My spirit wails for water, water now! My tongue is aching dry, my throat is hot For water, fresh rain shaken from a bough, Or dawn dews heavy in some leafy spot. My hungry body's burning for a swim In sunlit water where the air is cool, As in Trout Valley where upon a limb The golden finch sings sweetly to the pool. Oh water, water, when the night is done, When day steals gray-white through the window-pane, Clear silver water when I wake, alone, All impotent of parts, of fevered brain; Pure water from a forest fountain first, To wash me, cleanse me, and to quench my thirst! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON THE RECEIPT OF MY MOTHER'S PICTURE [OUT OF NORFOLK] by WILLIAM COWPER WERE I BUT HIS OWN WIFE by ELLEN MARY PATRICK DOWNING LOVE TO THE CHURCH by TIMOTHY DWIGHT HOMAGE TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM by WILLIAM EMPSON A MIDSUMMER'S NOON IN THE AUSTRALIAN FOREST by CHARLES HARPUR PROPERZIA ROSSI by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS |