WE saw the arc of the rainbow stand up o'er the garden wall, We scaled that perilous rampart to spy where its foot might be, We saw its trailing triumph, we marked its flashing fall, Over the hay-field, down by the river, under the pollard-tree; We saw the fall of the rainbow, We guessed where the gold would be, Under the pollard, pollard, pollard, Under the pollard-tree! We slipped through the garden wicket, we sped through the hay-cocks proud, Where, gemmed in the slanting sunset, each winking raindrop shone, But we saw ere we gained the river, afloat on a purple cloud, The magical arch of fairy glory over the valley gone! We saw the arc of the rainbow As the slant of the sunset shone, Over the valley, valley, valley, Over the valley gone! Then up and spake our caption, "A fig for such fairy gold, Come follow me back, my hearties, to the things of every day; For, touch but a magic treasure, 'twill crumble to ashes cold, So follow me back through the darkling hay-cocks, back to the things that pay!" We turned form the truant rainbow, And went in the fading day, Back through the hay-cocks, hay-cocks, hay-cocks, Back to the things that pay! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RIDDLE: A BLACKSMITH by MOTHER GOOSE IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 7 by ALFRED TENNYSON YOUTH'S AMBITION by ANNA GRACE BOYLES WRITTEN ON RETURNING TO THE P. OF I. ON 10 JANUARY 1827 by EMILY JANE BRONTE IN EXAMINATION by RUPERT BROOKE THE WANDERER: 3. IN ENGLAND: SEE-SAW by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON THE BLIND MAN AT THE FAIR by JOSEPH CAMPBELL FOURTH BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 1. A LITTLE BREATH I'LL BORROW by THOMAS CAMPION |