WHEN first the unflowering Fern-forest Shadowed the dim lagoons of old, A vague, unconscious, long unrest Swayed the great fronds of green and gold. Until the flexible stem grew rude, The fronds began to branch and bower, And lo! upon the unblossoming wood There breaks a dawn of apple-flower. Then on the fruitful forest-boughs For ages long the unquiet ape Swung happy in his airy house And plucked the apple, and sucked the grape. Until at length in him there stirred The old, unchanged, remote distress, That pierced his world of wind and bird With some divine unhappiness. Not love, nor the wild fruits he sought, Nor the fierce battles of his clan Could still the unborn and aching thought, Until the brute became the man. Long since; and now the same unrest Goads to the same invisible goal, Till some new gift, undream'd, unguess'd, End the new travail of the soul. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE RUBAIYAT, 1879 EDITION: 48 by OMAR KHAYYAM TO THEOPHILE GAUTIER by THEODORE FAULLAIN DE BANVILLE TO MR. BARBAULD, NOVEMBER 14, 1778 by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD ELEGY by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN FO'C'S'LE YARNS: 1ST SERIES. DEDICATION by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN STANZAS FOR MUSIC by MARY (BALFOUR) BRUNTON POETICAL INSCRIPTION FOR AN ALTAR OF INDEPENDENCE by ROBERT BURNS |