Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE FOUNTAINS OF ASHOKAN, by ROBERT UNDERWOOD JOHNSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE FOUNTAINS OF ASHOKAN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Henceforth what dream can e'er efface
Last Line: Would quaff new beauty in the glass!
Subject(s): Catskill Mountains, New York State; Water Supply; Dams; Reservoirs; Water Mains


THE AERATION OF NEW YORK'S WATER SUPPLY HAS ADDED AN EXQUISITE AND ASTONISHING FEATURE OF BEAUTY
TO THE LOWER CATSKILLS.

HENCEFORTH what dream can e'er efface
Ashokan's pure and irised throng?
Not Dryads, nor the Dryads' grace,
Not Naiads, nor the Naiads' song.

Like ghosts of cedars cool and tall --
They mount close-clustered, row on row --
As white as when the moonbeams fall
Upon the newly fallen snow.

Yet they are not a thing of night,
But souls of nymphs that stand by day
Poised for a fellowship of flight
While with their robes the breezes play.

They live in light -- not spirits dire
That haunt the darkness -- not to harm,
But like a massed angelic choir
With song of benison and charm.

Their beauty, to the verge of pain,
Dwells in my memory. I glean
A song above the heard refrain,
An unseen spirit in the seen;

For not of Death their waters speak
But Life, these glad Ashokan towers:
In heavenly ministry they seek
The City's human weeds and flowers.

Ah, could they flash their song and sight
To house and hovel as they pass,
How urban toil and care and blight
Would quaff new beauty in the glass!





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