THE springs of Fontana well high on the mountain, Out of the rock of the granite they pour Twenty or more; Ripple and runnel and freshet and fountain Well, happy tears, from the heart of the mountain Up at Fontana. See, not a step can we take but a spring Breaks from the roots of the blond-flower'd chestnuts -- (Look, in the water their long golden breast-knots Flung in caress!) -- from a tuft of the ling, From a stone, anything, Up at Fontana. Twenty or more, and no one of the twenty Gushes the same; here the waters abundant Babble redundant, Filling the vale with the bruit of their plenty; Here a mere ripple, a trickle, a scanty Dew on Fontana. Surely one noonday the Prophet in heaven Slept, and the wand of the desert fell -- Fell to the rock, and the rock was riven. Lo, all around it eternally well (A miracle!) The springs of Fontana. Waters of boon! Dluge or drought cannot alter your current, Swift in December and icy in June, Full when the icicle hangs on the torrent, Full when the river is dry and the noon Parches Fontana. Over the rocks! Over the tree-root that tangles and blocks -- Robbing from all that resists you a sunny Scent of the cistus and rock-hidden honey, Yarrow, campanula, thyme, agrimony -- Flow from Fontana! Flow, happy waters, and gather and rally, Rush to the plain. Flow to the heavenly fields of Limain, Blue as a dream in the folds of the valley; Feed them and fatten with blossom and grain, Springs of Fontana! Rivers of springs, Born many times in renewal unending, Bright, irresistible, purest of things, Blessing the rocks that oppose you, befriending Pastures and cattle and men in your wending Forth from Fontana. Born (who knows how?) a mysterious fountain Out of the stone and the dust of the mountain, Bound to a country we know little of, How shall I bless ye and praise ye enough, Image of Love, Springs of Fontana! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON MY JOYFUL DEPARTURE FROM THE CITY OF COLOGNE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE AND THERE WAS A GREAT CALM' by THOMAS HARDY OVERLOOKING THE RIVER STOUR by THOMAS HARDY DEFEAT AND VICTORY by WALLACE RICE |