HEAR'ST thou not far music ringing, As of double-bass and fiddle? Many fair ones there are springing Gaily up and down the middle. "You're mistaken friend, in speaking "Thus of fiddle and its brother; "I but hear young porkers squeaking, "And the grunting of their mother. Hear'st thou not the forest bugle? Hunters in the chase are straying; Gentle lambs are feeding, frugal Shepherds on their pipes are playing. "Ah, my friend, what you just now heard, "Was not bugles, pipes, or hunters; "I can only see the sow-herd "Slowly driving home his grunters." Hear'st thou not the distant voices In sweet rivalry contending? Many an angel blest rejoices Strains like these to hear ascending. "Ah, that music sweetly ringing "Is, my friend, no rival chorus; "'Tis but youthful gooseherds, singing "As they drive their geese before us." Hear'st thou not the church-bells holy, Sweet and clear, with deep emotion? To the village-chapel slowly Wend the people with devotion. "Ah, my friend, the bells 'tis only "Of the cows and oxen also, "Who, with sunken heads and lonely, "Go back to their gloomy stalls so." See'st thou not the veil just moving? See'st thou not those soft advances? There I see my mistress loving, Humid sorrow in her glances. "She, my friend, who nods so much, is "An old woman, Betsy namely; "Pale and haggard, on her crutches "O'er the meadow limps she lamely." Overwhelm me with confusion At my questions, friend, each minute; Wilt thou deem a mere illusion What my bosom holds within it? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LAST MAN: RECEPTION OF EVIL TIDINGS by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES THANKSGIVING - 1937 by JOSIE CRAIG BERRY PSALM 12. SALVUM ME FAC by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE GLEANING by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN FIAMMETTA: SONNET. OF HIS LAST SIGHT OF FIAMMETTA by GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO NIMROD: 7 by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH LOVE SONGS: 9. A SIGH FROM OXFORD by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) |