Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ON A LAKE by JOHN DRINKWATER

Poet Analysis

First Line: SWEET IN THE RUSHES
Last Line: THE LIFE OF THE LAKE.
Subject(s): BIRDS; LAKES; NIGHTINGALES; WATER; POOLS; PONDS;

SWEET in the rushes
The reed-singers make
A music that hushes
The life of the lake;
The leaves are dumb,
And the tides are still,
And no calls come
From the flocks on the hill.

Forgotten now
Are nightingales,
And on his bough
The linnet fails, --
Midway the mere
My mirrored boat
Shall rest and hear
A slenderer note.

Though, heart, you measure
But one proud rhyme,
You build a treasure
Confounding time --
Sweet in the rushes
The reed-singers make
A music that hushes
The life of the lake.



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