A whirl-blast from behind the hill Rushed o'er the wood with startling sound; Then''"all at once the air was still, And showers of hailstones pattered round. Where leafless oaks towered high above, I sat within an undergrove Of tallest hollies, tall and green; A fairer bower was never seen. From year to year the spacious floor With withered leaves is covered o'er, And all the year the bower is green. But see! where'er the hailstones drop The withered leaves all skip and hop; There's not a breeze''"no breath of air''" Yet here, and there, and everywhere Along the floor, beneath the shade By those embowering hollies made, The leaves in myriads jump and spring, As if with pipes and music rare Some Robin Good-fellow were there, And all those leaves, in festive glee, Were dancing to the minstrelsy. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON THE DEATH OF MR. PURCELL by JOHN DRYDEN LITTLE BOY BLUE by EUGENE FIELD A MINUET ON REACHING THE AGE OF FIFTY by GEORGE SANTAYANA THE MOON by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON IN SCHOOL-DAYS by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 39. AL-HAFIZ by EDWIN ARNOLD THE CEREMONY OF THE PRINTER'S APPRENTICE; A GERMAN MORALITY PLAY by WILLAM BLADES |