Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PLEASURES OF AN ANGLER, by JOHN WARREN GORDON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PLEASURES OF AN ANGLER, by                    
First Line: When birds sing best and meadows bloom
Last Line: The joys that nature has refined.
Subject(s): Fish & Fishing; Anglers


When birds sing best and meadows bloom,
When trees are list'ning to the brooks
And waters leap the rocks in foam,
The anglers seek sequestered nooks,
Supplied with bait of worm or fly,
With silken line and springing pole
That reach where speckled beauties lie
In running stream and crystal pool.
In patient watch they sit and wait,
In meditation's happy dream,
Disturbed by nibbles at the bait
Or by the voices of the stream.

These voices are a joyous thing;
Upon the ear they louder grow
Till all the air and landscape ring,
Then blend in music soft and low.
At times a note is sharp and clear,
So real it seems, you glance about
To see what friend is standing near,
And, finding none, are left in doubt.
The waters laugh at your surprise
And chatter onward through the lea,
Repeating oft in human guise
The note that startled you and me.

Ah! What a symbol of our life
The stream that glistens as it flows!
Against the rocks it beats in strife
Or frets 'neath Winter's ice and snows.
Then out it flows in sunny June
To feed the roots of grass and flower
And sing its merry summer tune
From morning light to vesper hour.
'T wixt life and death, a silver thread
That stretches thru the verdant land,
From mountain source to ocean bed,—
A wonder wrought by Nature's hand.

And all the stars above it pass
And pause to see their image there;
For beautiful in the liquid glass
The jewels of the night appear.
The same today as yesterday,
It hurries onward to the sea;
The same tomorrow as today,
A changeless change its destiny.
To scenes like these the angler turns
And leaves the fretting world behind,
To seek amid the flowers and ferns
The joys that Nature has refined.





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