Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE ROCK by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES

Poet Analysis

First Line: LOVE KISSED ME IN A STRANGE, UNTRUTHFUL HOUR
Last Line: SHOOK FASTER THAN A LAMB'S TAIL, IN ITS SINGING.

Love kissed me in a strange, untruthful hour,
All for a smiling lip and shining eye;
Not knowing that my thoughts were far from her,
Set on a wonder in the years gone by.
It was the vision of a mighty rock
That faced the East, across Long Island Sound;
From which a hundred tongues of water burst,
And sang me into slumber on the ground.
And how I, waking in the night-time, saw
A large, white butterfly of moonlight clinging
To that rock's forehead, while each silver tongue
Shook faster than a lamb's tail, in its singing.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net