Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE WATERMILL, by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I'll rise at midnight and I'll rove Last Line: And still love's moment sees them there. Alternate Author Name(s): Blunden, Edmund Subject(s): Mills & Millers | ||||||||
I'LL rise at midnight and I'll rove Up the hill and down the drove That leads to the old unnoticed mill, And think of one I used to love: There stooping to the hunching wall I'll stare into the rush of stars Or bubbles that the waterfall Brings forth and breaks in ceaseless wars. The shelving hills have made a fourm Where the mill holdings shelter warm, And here I came with one I loved To watch the seething millions swarm. But long ago she grew a ghost Though walking with me every day; Even when her beauty burned me most She to a spectre dimmed away -- Until though cheeks all morning-bright And black eyes gleaming life's delight And singing voice dwelt in my sense, Herself paled on my inward sight. She grew one whom deep waters glassed. Then in dismay I hid from her, And lone by talking brooks at last I found a Love still lovelier. O lost in tortured days of France! Yet still the moment comes like chance Born in the stirring midnight's sigh Or in the wild wet sunset's glance: And how I know not, but the stream Still sounds like vision's voice, and still I watch with Love the bubbles gleam, I walk with Love beside the mill. The heavens are thralled with cloud, yet grey, Half-moonlight swims the field till day, The stubbled fields, the bleaching woods; Even this bleak hour was stolen away By this shy water falling low And calling low the whole night through And calling back the long ago And richest world I ever knew. The hop-kiln fingers cobweb-white With discord dim turned left and right, And when the wind was south and small The sea's far whisper drowsed the night, Scarce more than mantling ivy's voice That in the tumbling water trailed. Love's spirit called me to rejoice When she to nothingness had paled: For Love the daffodils shone here In grass the greenest of the year, Daffodils seemed the sunset lights And silver birches budded clear: And all from east to west there strode Great shafted clouds in argent air, The shining chariot-wheels of God, And still Love's moment sees them there. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WINDMILL by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES THE WATER MILL by SARAH DOUDNEY THE OLD MILL by THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH THE MILL by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON LITTLE JERRY, THE MILLER by JOHN GODFREY SAXE STEEL MILL by LOUIS UNTERMEYER ALMSWOMEN by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |
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