[1][3] As up the hill with labr'ing steps we tread Where the twin Clumps their sheltering branches spread The summit gain'd at ease reclining lay And all around the wide spread scene survey Point out each object and instructive tell The various changes that the land befell Where the low bank the country wide surrounds That ancient earthwork form'd old Mercia's bounds In misty distance see the barrow heave There lies forgotten lonely Cwichelm's grave.

Within that field where lies the grazing herd Huge walls were found, some coffins disinter'd Such is the course of time, the wreck which fate And awful doom award the earthly great.

[7] It has been suggested that the poem, which is also a summary of the location's history,[3] was an example of Tubb's repressed creativity[6]—his ambition was to be a wood carver, but he was pressured into being a maltster through family tradition.

[8] The mention of Cwichelm's (or Culchelm's) grave refers to Scutchamer Knob, a barrow on The Ridgeway near Grim's Ditch,[3] approximately 8.5 miles (13.7 km) south-west of the Poem Tree.

Tubb's assertion that the barrow could be seen in the misty distance is plausible; the archaeologist Tim Allen suggests that on a clear day the Berkshire Downs can be viewed from the hills and vice versa.