I like to rise at five o'clock, And while the world is still, Before the noise and fret and shock Its busy corners fill, I take the ladle of my mind, And thick on sleep and dream A wonderful deposit find, And skim away the cream. It's not a factory product, that, No curdled whey or cheese, No churned-out and laborious fat, No butter, if you please, But just the natural drift o' things, The musings of the world, The thought that softly floats and clings, From deepest deeps unfurled. It's none of mine; but it's no sin, As there it waiting lies, To put my cautious ladle in, And lift the luscious prize. And after that, though all the day Parades in rustling silk, Or shouts great news along Broadway, -- It's nothing but skimmed milk. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPITAPH ON THE ADMIRABLE DRAMATIC POET, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE by JOHN MILTON TO SENECA LAKE by JAMES GATES PERCIVAL THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM BY THE BABYLONIAN HORDES by ISAAC ROSENBERG EVE by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI GERALDINE by EMILY JANE BRONTE |