Silent and modest Brook! who dippest here Thy foot in Avon as if childish fear Withheld thee for a moment, wend along; Go, follow'd by my song, Sung in such easy numbers as they use Who turn in fondness to the Tuscan Muse And such as often have flow'd down on me From my own Fiesole. I watch thy placid smile, nor need to say That Tasso wove one looser lay, And Milton took it up to dry the tear Dropping on Lycidas's bier. In youth how often at thy side I wander'd! What golden hours, hours numberless, were squander'd Among thy sedges, while sometimes I meditated native rhymes, And sometimes stumbled upon Latian feet; Then, where soft mole-built seat Invited me, I noted down What must full surely win the crown, But first impatiently vain efforts made On broken pencil with a broken blade. Anon, of lighter heart, I threw My hat where circling plover flew, And once I shouted till, instead of plover, There sprang up half a damsel, half a lover. I would not twice be barbarous; on I went . . And two heads sank amid the pillowing bent. Pardon me, gentle Stream, if rhyme Holds up these records in the face of Time: Among the falling leaves some birds yet sing, And Autumn hath his butterflies like Spring. Thou canst not turn thee back, thou canst not see Reflected what hath ceast to be: Haply thou little knowest why I check this levity, and sigh. Thou never knewest her whose radiant morn Lighted my path to Love; she bore thy name, She whom no Grace was tardy to adorn, Whom one low voice pleas'd more than louder fame: She now is past my praises; from her urn To thine, with reverence due, I turn. O silver-braided Swift! no victim ever Was sacrificed to thee, Nor hast thou carried to that sacred River Vases of myrrh, nor hast thou run to see A band of Maenads toss their timbrels high Mid @3io-evohes@1 to their Deity. But holy ashes have bestrewn thy stream Under the mingled gleam Of swords and torches, and the chaunt of Rome, When Wiclif's lowly tomb Thro' its thick briars was burst By frantic priests accurst; For he had enter'd and laid bare the lies That pave the labyrinth of their mysteries. We part . . but one more look! Silent and modest Brook! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WINTER NIGHT SONG by SARA TEASDALE THISTLE by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS THE CONFESSIONAL by ROBERT BROWNING THE FUNERAL by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE SIMON LEGREE: NEGRO SERMON; MEMORIAL TO BOOKER T. WASHINGTON by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY THE INCENSE BURNER by ABUS SALT IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |