Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, COMMENCEMENT POEM: 8. THE FOUNTAIN, by EDWARD ROWLAND SILL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

COMMENCEMENT POEM: 8. THE FOUNTAIN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Were it not horrible?
Last Line: Thou wert not always thus to stand?
Alternate Author Name(s): Hedbrooke, Andrew
Subject(s): Commencement


Were it not horrible?
After all the dreams we dream,
Our yearnings and our prayers,
If this "I" were but a stream
Of thoughts, sensations, joys, and pains,
Which being clogged, no soul remains;
Even as the fountain seems to be
A shape of one identity,
But only is a stream of drops,
And when the swift succession stops,
The fountain melts and disappears,
Leaving no trace but scattered tears.
Yet even here, O foolish heart,
Thou wert not cheated of thy part;
Were it not better, even here,
To keep thy current pure and clear,
With pearly drops of dew to wet
The amaranth and violet,
And round thy crystal feet to shower
Blessings and beauty every hour --
Better than in a sullen flow
To creep along the ground, and go
Wasting and sinking through the sand,
To make no single spot of land
Happier or holier for thy being --
Refresh no flower, no grass-blade, seeing
Thou wert not always thus to stand?





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