In the nook of a wood where a pool freshed with dew Glassed, daybreak till evening, blue sky glimpsing through, Then a star; or a slip of May-noon silver-white Thridding softly aloof the quiet of night, Was a thicket of flowers. Willow-herb, mint, pale speedwell and rattle, Water hemlock and sundew -- to the wind's tittle-tattle They nodded, dreamed, swayed in jocund delight, In beauty and sweetness arrayed, still and bright. By turn scampered rabbit; trotted fox; bee and bird Paused droning, sang shrill, and the fair water stirred. Plashed green frog, or some brisk little flickering fish -- Gudgeon, stickleback, minnow -- set the ripples a-swish. A lone pool, a pool grass-fringed, crystal-clear: Deep, placid, and cool in the sweet of the year; Edge-parched when the sun to the Dog Days drew near; And with winter's bleak rime hard as glass, robed in snow, The whole wild-wood sleeping, and nothing a-blow But the wind from the North -- bringing snow. That is all. Save that one long, sweet, June night-tide straying, The harsh hemlock's pale umbelliferous bloom Tenting nook, dense with fragrance and secret with gloom, In a beaming of moon-coloured light faintly raying, On buds orbed with dew phosphorescently playing, Came a Stranger -- still-footed, feat-fingered, clear face, Unhumanly lovely. . . and supped in that place. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE AWAKENING by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE ORPHAN BOY'S TALE by AMELIA OPIE AN ALPINE DESCENT by SAMUEL ROGERS TO TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH BLACKMWORE MAIDENS by WILLIAM BARNES THE UNKNOWN SHEPHERD'S COMPLAINT by RICHARD BARNFIELD |