Slowly thy flowing tide Came in, old Avon! scarcely did mine eyes, As watchful I roam'd thy green-wood side, Perceive its gentle rise. With many a stroke and strong The labouring boatmen upward plied their oars, Yet little way they made, though labouring long Between thy winding shores. Now down thine ebbing tide The unlaboured boat falls rapidly along; The solitary helms-man sits to guide, And sings an idle song. Now o'er the rocks, that lay So silent late, the shallow current roars; Fast flow thy waters on their sea-ward way Thro' wider-spreading shores. Avon! I gaze and know The lesson emblemed in thy varying way; It speaks of human joys that rise so slow, So rapidly decay. Kingdoms that long have stood, And slow to strength and power attain'd at last, Thus from the summit of high fortune's flood Ebb to their ruin fast. Thus like thy flow appears Time's tardy course to manhood's envied stage; Alas! how hurryingly the ebbing years Then hasten to old age! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HER DILEMMA; IN CHURCH by THOMAS HARDY ANTONIO by LAURA ELIZABETH HOWE RICHARDS MY ALPENSTOCK by HENRY GLASSFORD BELL IF THE WORLD WERE RIGHT by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON THE WANDERER: 3. IN ENGLAND: MIDGES by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON THE SHEPHERD BOY (1) by JOHN CLARE TO THE TENTH LEGION, NEW YORK STATE VOLUNTEERS, 1862 by RUTH NATALIE CROMWELL |