@3Deer-hoof dint and moccasin print Stamped the moss that rimmed my flow; Adder's-tongue and fragrant mint Grew -- where nothing now may grow; Dragon-flies in shimmering schools Reveled here, an airy rout; Minnows rilled my glimmering pools, Through my rapids flashed the trout. Gone the hunter, fled the deer; All the birds I loved are flown; Men have hid my waters clear Under piles of rigid stone. Men have tombed my silver springs; Yet, within the sunless caves All unheard my torrent sings, All unseen I pour my waves. Mocking, delving, deep I lurk. What! they dream my fount is dry? Lo! I ruin all their work. Mortal, they; but deathless, I. Let them hold their gloomy day! I that laugh shall rule at last. When the massive walls decay, When the towers to earth are cast, I shall flash a clearer sun, I shall lure my birds again; Deep in bloom my streams shall run Through the crumbled homes of men.@1 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOVE by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS EPISTLE TO AUGUSTA by GEORGE GORDON BYRON OVERLOOKING THE RIVER STOUR by THOMAS HARDY INSPIRATION (2) by HENRY DAVID THOREAU THE LONELY STREET by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS AFTER THE NIGHT by NOUREDDIN ADDIS THE FROGS: THE FATAL OIL-FLASK by ARISTOPHANES A HINT FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE THIRD SATIRE OF JUVENAL by PHILIP AYRES |