WHAT are the thoughts that are stirring his breast? What is the mystical vision he sees? -- "Let us pass over the river, and rest Under the shade of the trees." Has he grown sick of his toils and his tasks? Sighs the worn spirit for respite or ease? Is it a moment's cool halt that he asks Under the shade of the trees? Is it the gurgle of water whose flow Ofttimes has come to him, borne on the breeze, Memory listens to, lapsing so low, Under the shade of the trees? Nay -- though the rasp of the flesh was so sore, Faith, that had yearnings far keener than these, Saw the soft sheen of the Thitherward Shore Under the shade of the trees; -- Caught the high psalm of ecstatic delight-- Heard the harps harping, like soundings of seas -- Watched earth's assoiled ones walking in white Under the shade of the trees. Oh, was it strange he should pine for release, Touched to the soul with such transports as these, -- He who so needed the balsam of peace, Under the shade of the trees? Yea, it was noblest for him -- it was best (Questioning naught of our Father's decrees), There to pass over the river and rest Under the shade of the trees! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ESCAPE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON IMAGINATION, FR. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE MERRIMAC by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE COLD WAVE OF 32 B.C. by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS VERSES TO A YOUNG FRIEND by BERNARD BARTON LOVE AND COQUETRY by LEVI BISHOP A TALE OF VILLAFRANCA; TOLD IN TUSCANY by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |