Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE OLD BRIDGE, by SEYMOUR GREEN WHEELER BENJAMIN First Line: Down by the river, on this rustic bridge Last Line: With ecstasy that language cannot tell! Subject(s): Brookfield, Massachusetts | ||||||||
DOWN by the river, on this rustic bridge, I love to while these sunny hours away. The low wind o'er the meadows breathes a song That lulls the ear and steals upon the soul Like voices of the past; the delicate blue Of the horizon gleams with snowy clouds, So moveless in the distance that they seem The peaks of fairy-land, and, oceanwards, Beneath me, glides the river with a strain Of music as it laps the rough-hewn piers Of the old bridge, and winds among the flats Now golden where the sun strikes through, and gilds The yellow sand below, or lucent green, Where verdure clothes the marge, or with the hue Of heaven on its bosom, till it hides Among the hills, that spread their friendly arms To welcome it. Anon a rippling breeze Skims on the surface, and a deeper blue Enchants the eye. There leaps a perch, and leaves A silver circle curling to the shore; And here the minnows gather, where the bridge Throws a brown shadow on the stream. A flock Of wild-fowl, bearing northward, sail o'erhead, -- Specks on the azure. In the languid air, Before me darts the swallow, and I hear The meadow-lark, the catbird, and the jay Afar and near. O songsters of the spring, Ye seem to bring us health and happiness Upon your wings, for your wild warbling fills The weary soul with unaccustomed joy, With ecstasy that language cannot tell! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BATTLE OF VIENNA by SEYMOUR GREEN WHEELER BENJAMIN THE BOSPHORUS REVISITED by SEYMOUR GREEN WHEELER BENJAMIN THE SLAVE AUCTION by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER ZOLA by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON FOR SPRING, BY SANDRO BOTTICELLI by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 9. LOVE A TICKLISH GAME by PHILIP AYRES A WINTER TWILIGHT by ARLO BATES |
|