Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AEOLIAN HARP (2), by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AEOLIAN HARP (2), by                     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!





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