Ann Emmett Browning Favorite Poem

This poem was recited at social and family events by Ann Emmett. She was born and raised in Clitheroe, England. A copy of the poem was in Jonathan Edmund Browning’s wallet when he passed away.

Old Clitheroe

There’s a spot in old England,
That is still dear to me,
On the banks of the Ribble
That runs to the sea;
In the shade of old Pendle,
Whose summit I’ve trod
Ere a thought of its grandeur,
Had entered my nod;
I’ve traversed its meadows
And pastures so green,
In my wanderings, their equal
I’ve never yet seen;
I’ve plucked its wild flowers,
Such abundance there grows,
And inhaled the sweet fragrance
Of hawthorn and rose.

I fancy with rapture
This sweet month of May,
How the larks they will sing,
And the lambkins will play;
Sing on thou sweet warbler,
Give one strain for me,
Whose home is now far away
O’er the sea;
I’ve oft rambled o’er Salthill,
And round the lime kilns,
By the river at Brungerley
Watching its rills;
I’ve wandered o’er Longridge
And Waddington Fells,
And I quaffed the clear crystal
Of Walloper Well.

It’s dear ancient Castle,
Its towers and walls,
How my youth seems renewed
At the scene I recall;
How much I revere thee,
Words fail me to show,
Thou gem of the valley,
Dear old Clitheroe!
When I first left thy shelter,
I had no reason why, except youthful fancies
My fortune to try;
At fortune I frown not,
To me she’s been fair,
And I sigh when I think
Of lost friends over there.

To see the once more,
I’ll brave ocean and tide,
Dear home of my childhood,
My manhood and pride;
Father, mother and friends,
In thy old church yard lie.
And two babes whose sweet memory
Still dims my eye;
Old ocean, thy terrors
No one can deny,
When thy billows are tempest tossed,
Rending the sky,
But be thou propitious,
And let me once more
Reach in safety the friends
On my own native shore.