Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE BRIDGE by JOHN BANISTER TABB

First Line: WHERE, AS A LORDLY DREAM
Last Line: FROM SHORE TO SHORE!
Subject(s): BRIDGES; LIFE;

Where, as a lordly dream,
Glides the deep-winding stream
For evermore;
Calm, as in conscious strength,
Bends thy majestic length
From shore to shore.

Life, in its fevered heat,
Surges, with pulsing feet,
Restless, above;
Doomed, in its anxious flow,
Like the strong tide below,
Onward to move.

Strange is the motley throng!
Hearts yet untaught of wrong,
Thoughtless of pain,
Mingle with souls accursed,
Sands in a desert thirst --
Clouds without rain.

While o'er thee and below
Swift the twin currents flow,
Thy form serene
Still as the shades that sleep
On the reflecting deep
Arches between.

O that, all strife above,
Strong in the strength thereof
Man evermore
Built with a broader span
Love for his fellow-man
From shore to shore!



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