THE struggling Rill insensibly is grown Into a Brook of loud and stately march, Crossed ever and anon by plank or arch; And, for like use, lo! what might seem a zone Chosen for ornament -- stone matched with stone In studied symmetry, with interspace For the clear waters to pursue their race Without restraint. How swiftly have they flown, Succeeding -- still succeeding! Here the Child Puts, when the high-swoln Flood runs fierce and wild, His budding courage to the proof; and here Declining Manhood learns to note the sly And sure encroachments of infirmity, Thinking how fast time runs, life's end how near! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...I LOOKED FOR LIFE AND DID A SHADOW SEE by JAMES GALVIN DAYBREAK by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE SONG OF HIAWATHA: HIAWATHA AND MUDJEKEEWIS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE ROSE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THERE IS NOTHING STRANGE by ARCHILOCHUS TO HIS GRACE, GEORGE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND by PHILIP AYRES |