AH, what a long and loitering way And ever-lovely way, in truth, We travel on from day to day Out of the realms of youth! How eagerly we onward press The lovely path that lures us still With ever-changing loveliness Of grassy vale and hill: Of groves of May and morning-lands Dew-diamonded and gemmed with bloom; With amber streams and golden sands And aisles of gleam and gloom; Where lovely little Fairy-folk, In careless ambush, pipe and call From tousled ferns 'neath elm and oak By shoal and waterfall: Transparent even as the stream, The gnarled prison-tree reveals Its lovely Dryad in a dream That scarce itself conceals; The sudden redbird trips the sight And tricks the ear -- or doubtless we With happy palms had clapped the Sprite In new captivity. On -- on, through all the gathering years, Still gleams the loveliness, though seen Through dusks of loss and mists of tears That vainly intervene. Time stints us not of lovely things -- Old Age hath still a treasure-store, -- The loveliness of songs and wings And voices on before. -- And -- loveliness beyond all grace Of lovely words to say or sing, -- The loveliness of Hope's fair face Forever brightening. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THERE IS NO NATURAL RELIGION (B) by WILLIAM BLAKE A WOMAN'S SHORTCOMINGS by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING THE DEVIL'S WALK [ON EARTH] by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE WASHERS OF THE SHROUD; OCTOBER, 1861 by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL LAYS OF FRANCE: SONG (2) by MARIE DE FRANCE |