There were tall ferns once, in whose stalwart boles The apteryx and pterodactyl nested; They rustled drowsily like wind-swayed bells, They stood as silent as great rocks, red-breasted In sunset. And the rocks stood lean and longing Above a stolid and untidal sea, As quiet as their locked hearts, dumbly singing Yesterdays young as the last hour to be. The wordless murmur of the hushed wood Enfolds us now: we have subdued our cry To no more clamor than leaves earthward strewed, Or tall hot stars clinging icily by. And we have learned from stars and rocks and trees, Till our love is no noisier than these. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SISTERS by JOHN BANISTER TABB PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 64. AL-KAIYUM by EDWIN ARNOLD A REED by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING DESERTED FARMS by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON MATTERHORN QUESTS by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON SONGS OF THE SEA CHILDREN: 91 by BLISS CARMAN THE CANTERBURY TALES: PROLOGUE OF THE NUN'S PRIEST'S TALE by GEOFFREY CHAUCER |