BESIDE the shining river's brim, By vital green of grasses spanned And circled by the hills, that rim The blue horizon's wonder-land, The ruins of a dwelling rise Pathetic to the evening skies. Mounds, where a hearth fire once was bright; And tumbled rails that girdled in A garden with its blooms alight And waving growths, their next-of-kin: Above, a well-sweep rising sheer Out of the wreck of many a year. An eloquence of what is past Broods like a ghost around the place; The dreams that brick and stone outlast Sit peering in each other's face; Lo, every corner stone is rife With phantoms of forgotten life. Here love was potent, work and play Lifted twin voices clear and strong; There is no other sound to-day Save music of the river's song: Across the crumbled years they call, The well-sweep and the ruined wall. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE VIRTUOSO; IN IMITATION OF SPENCER'S STYLE AND STANZA by MARK AKENSIDE TO A DOG'S MEMORY by LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY A CELEBRATION OF CHARIS: 1. HIS EXCUSE FOR LOVING by BEN JONSON CHAMBER MUSIC: 36 by JAMES JOYCE A DIRGE FOR MCPHERSON; KILLED IN FRONT OF ATLANTA by HERMAN MELVILLE |