Down by the river's bank I stray'd, Upon an autumn day; Beside the fading forest there, I saw a child at play. She play'd among the yellow leaves- The leaves that once were green, And flung upon the passing stream What once had blooming been: Oh! deeply did it touch my heart To see that child at play: It was the sweet, unconscious sport Of childhood with decay. Fair child, if by this stream you stray When after years go by, The scene that makes thy childhood's sport May wake thy age's sigh: When fast you see around you fall The summer's leafy pride, And mark the river hurrying on Its ne'er returning tide, Then may you feel in pensive mood That life's a summer dream; And man, at last, forgotten falls Aleaf upon the stream. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ARABIA by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE MONNA INNOMINATA, A SONNET OF SONNETS: 6 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI TO HARTLEY COLERIDGE; SIX YEARS OLD by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH APPARITIONS by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH HASSAN'S MUSIC by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH MY WINTER ROSE by ALFRED AUSTIN ASHWEDNESDAY by JOSEPH BEAUMONT |