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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AEOLIAN HARP (2), by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM Poet's Biography First Line: What saith the river to the rushes grey Last Line: For ever, ever, ever fled away! Alternate Author Name(s): Pollex, D.; Walker, Patricius Subject(s): Transience; Rivers; Impermanence | |||
WHAT saith the river to the rushes grey, Rushes sadly bending, River slowly wending? Who can tell the whisper'd things they say? Youth, and prime, and life, and time, For ever, ever fled away! Drop your wither'd garlands in the stream, Low autumnal branches, Round the skiff that launches Wavering downward through the lands of dream. Ever, ever fled away! This the burden, this the theme. What saith the river to the rushes grey, Rushes sadly bending, River slowly wending? It is near the closing of the day. Near the night. Life and light For ever, ever fled away! Draw him tideward down; but not in haste. Mouldering daylight lingers; Night with her cold fingers Sprinkles moonbeams on the dim sea-waste. Ever, ever fled away! Vainly cherish'd! vainly chased! What saith the river to the rushes grey, Rushes sadly bending, River slowly wending? Where in darkest glooms his bed we lay, Up the cave moans the wave, For ever, ever, ever fled away! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FROM THE SPANISH by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON CHAMBER MUSIC: 17 by JAMES JOYCE SOUTHERN GOTHIC by DONALD JUSTICE THE BEACH IN AUGUST by WELDON KEES THE MAN SPLITTING WOOD IN THE DAYBREAK by GALWAY KINNELL THE SEEKONK WOODS by GALWAY KINNELL |
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