A CONSTANT keeping-past of shaken trees, And a bewildered glitter of loose road; Banks of bright growth, with single blades atop Against white sky: and wires--a constant chain-- That seem to draw the clouds along with them (Things which one stoops against the light to see Through the low window; shaking by at rest, Or fierce like water as the swiftness grows); And, seen through fences or a bridge far off, Trees that in moving keep their intervals Still one 'twixt bar and bar; and then at times Long reaches of green level, where one cow, Feeding among her fellows that feed on, Lifts her slow neck, and gazes for the sound. Fields mown in ridges; and close garden-crops Of the earth's increase; and a constant sky Still with clear trees that let you see the wind; And snatches of the engine-smoke, by fits Tossed to the wind against the landscape, where Rooks stooping heave their wings upon the day. Brick walls we pass between, passed so at once That for the suddenness I cannot know Of what, or where begun, or where at end. Sometimes a station in grey quiet; whence, With a short gathered champing of pent sound, We are let out upon the air again. Pauses of water soon, at intervals, That has the sky in it;--the reflexes O' the trees move towards the bank as we go by, Leaving the water's surface plain. I now Lie back and close my eyes a space; for they Smart from the open forwardness of thought Fronting the wind. I did not scribble more, Be certain, after this; but yawned and read, And nearly dozed a little, I believe; Till, stretching up against the carriage-back, I was roused altogether, and looked out To where the pale sea brooded murmuring. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON MY FIRST DAUGHTER by BEN JONSON THE CITY AT THE END OF THINGS by ARCHIBALD LAMPMAN FLOWERS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW TO MY ANTENOR, MARCH 16, 1661/2 by KATHERINE PHILIPS MURMURINGS IN A FIELD HOSPITAL by CARL SANDBURG |