BESIDE the shining river's brim, By vital green of grasses spanned And circled by the hills, that rim The blue horizon's wonder-land, The ruins of a dwelling rise Pathetic to the evening skies. Mounds, where a hearth fire once was bright; And tumbled rails that girdled in A garden with its blooms alight And waving growths, their next-of-kin: Above, a well-sweep rising sheer Out of the wreck of many a year. An eloquence of what is past Broods like a ghost around the place; The dreams that brick and stone outlast Sit peering in each other's face; Lo, every corner stone is rife With phantoms of forgotten life. Here love was potent, work and play Lifted twin voices clear and strong; There is no other sound to-day Save music of the river's song: Across the crumbled years they call, The well-sweep and the ruined wall. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OUR PRAYER OF THANKS by CARL SANDBURG MAY AND DEATH by ROBERT BROWNING THE BROKEN HEART by JOHN DONNE THE ROSE AND THORN by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE FRIENDSHIP [OR, THE TRUE FRIEND] by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE A SOLDIER'S GRAVE by JOHN ALBEE THE ELF CHILD by GEORGE LAWRENCE ANDREWS EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 28. LOVE'S TRIUMPH OVER RICHES by PHILIP AYRES |