Mardalian Lament
Mardale Today
The Farmsteads are empty their roof-trees all Gone
The strong hardy dales men have left Yan by Yan
There's now't left to show where their old dwellings stood
Save whitening on stone deep 'neath the flood
Dear were its forests where we wandered so free
Or rested a while on some ald fallen tree
Loved were t'ald meadows leading down to the shore
No fair maid of Mardale will tread there no more
Its quaint larle church nestling under t'ald yews
Was plundered of alter pulpit and pews
The sacred dead laid to rest there for aye
Will hear the last triumph some place far away
The Dun Bull has gone no more shall we rest there
Its larders are empty its cupboards are bare
The rooms where we revelled for ever are lost
No more shall we feast there recking the cost
So Mardale farewell for those strangers have robbed thee
Of all that was dear to my comrades and me
Of forest and church and Dun Bull we're bereft
High Whelter's gaunt gables are all that is left
When't watter's fall low, once again thou shall see
The true road of Mardale winding down'the valley.