Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE UNATTAINABLE, by PATRICK REGINALD CHALMERS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE UNATTAINABLE, by                    
First Line: I know a pool where the river
Last Line: Well, we shall see.
Subject(s): Fish & Fishing; Anglers


I KNOW a pool where the river,
Sunlit and still,
Slips by a bank of wild roses
Down from the mill;
There do I linger when summer makes glorious
Valley and hill.

Somewhere the song of a skylark
Melts into air,
Butterflies float through the sunshine,
June's everywhere;
Nature in fact, shows an amiable jollity
I do not share.

For in the shade of the alders,
Scornful of flies,
There is a trout that no cunning
Coaxes to rise,
Sly as Ulysses, and doubtful as Didymus,
Mammoth in size.

And when the Mayfly battalions
Flutter and skin,
When all the others are filling
Baskets abrim,
I spend the cream of a fisherman's carnival
Casting at him;

Seeing in fancy my hackle
Seized with a flounce
Hearing the reel racing madly
Under his pounce,
Knowing at last all the pounds of his magnitude—
(Eight of an ounce!)

But of my drakes and my sedges
None make the kill,
None tempt him up from his fastness
Under the mill,
And, for I saw him as lately as Saturday,
There he is still.

Thus do Life's triumphs elude us,
Yet it may be
Some afternoon, when the keeper
Goes to his tea,
That, if a lob-worm were dropped unofficially—
Well, we shall see.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net