FROM the forests and highlands We come, we come; From the river-girt islands, Where loud waves are dumb, Listening to my sweet pipings. The wind in the reeds and the rushes, The bees on the bells of thyme, The birds on the myrtle bushes, The cicale above in the lime, And the lizards below in the grass, Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was, Listening to my sweet pipings. Liquid Peneus was flowing, And all dark Tempe lay In Pelion's shadow, outgrowing The light of the dying day, Speeded by my sweet pipings. The Sileni and Sylvans and Fauns, And the Nymphs of the woods and waves, To the edge of the moist river-lawns, And the brink of the dewy caves, And all that did then attend and follow, Were silent with love, as you now, Apollo, With envy of my sweet pipings. I sang of the dancing stars, I sang of the daedal earth, And of heaven, and the giant wars, And love, and death, and birth. And then I changed my pipings -- Singing how down the vale of Maenalus I pursued a maiden, and clasp'd a reed: Gods and men, we are all deluded thus! It breaks in our bosom, and then we bleed. All wept -- as I think both ye now would, If envy or age had not frozen your blood -- At the sorrow of my sweet pipings. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ETUDES DE PLUSIERS PAYSAGES DE L' AME: 1 by HAYDEN CARRUTH CORPORATE ENTITY by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH JOHN WILKES BOOTH AT THE FARM (JANUARY 12, 1848) by EDGAR LEE MASTERS YOU ARE FIRE EATERS by MARIANNE MOORE WALT WHITMAN by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THE BALLAD OF LOVELY LADYES OF LONG AGOE by FRANCOIS VILLON VERSES FROM THE GRANDE CHARTREUSE by MATTHEW ARNOLD THE GARDEN OF LOVE, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE |