But Nature in her mood pushes or pulls At her caprice; we see what is not shown By that which we behold, nor this alone; To commonest matters let us fix a bound Or purport, straight another use is found And this annihilates and that annuls. And every straw of grass, or dirt, or stone, Has different function from the kind well-known: Commerce and custom, dikes and watermills. Not to the sea alone, from inland earth, The stream draws down its freight of floats and hulls, But backward far, upwinding to the north, The river gleams, a highway for the gulls That fly not over land, into the hills. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BEFORE THE BIRTH OF ONE OF HER CHILDREN by ANNE BRADSTREET THE HURRICANE by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THIS SUMMER AND LAST by THOMAS HARDY HESPERIDES by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH CHEMISTRY OF A POEM by CAROLYN AUSTIN INSCRIPTION FOR AN ICE-HOUSE by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |