Water remembered, treasured up; Water that has never touched an earthen cup; Held only in the creased hollow of a hand, Trickling through, flickering silver, furrowing black sand; Water tapped at the source Of cool damp precincts moving without force, Even and quiet and confident and clean With all the beauty of some suave machine -- These things, these phrases wrenched themselves softly loose Like young tulip bulbs or the inside grass spear whose Rootless white green end is sweet to suck: So the phrases filtered through, light struck, Pulled loose from the intricate loam of thought and spaced Themselves because you laughed, and got unlaced Because you laughed at something that I said . . . Your laughter was like water -- not drink only, but drink and dark-grained deep- breathing bread. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BATTLEFIELD by EMILY DICKINSON A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 31 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN THE MEETING OF THE WATERS by THOMAS MOORE THE PASSOVER IN THE HOLY FAMILY (FOR A DRAWING) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI NORTH-WEST PASSAGE: 3. IN PORT by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON RACHEL by WILLIAM H. ARMSTRONG III THE SINGERS OF DELLA ROBBIA by ALFRED BARRETT |