'Speak not thy speech my boughs among: Put off thy years, wash in the breeze; My hours are peaceful centuries. Talk no more with feeble tongue; No more the fool of space and time, Come weave with mine a nobler rhyme. Only thy Americans Can read thy line, can meet thy glance, But the runes that I rehearse Understands the universe; The least breath my boughs which tossed Brings again the Pentecost; To every soul resounding clear In a voice of solemn cheer,- Am I not thine? Are not these thine? And they reply, "Forever mine!" My branches speak Italian, English, German, Basque, Castilian, Mountain speech to Highlanders, Ocean tongues to islanders, To Fin and Lap and swart Malay, To each his bosom-secret say. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TELL'S BIRTHPLACE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE LIKE A LAVEROCK IN THE LIFT by JEAN INGELOW PHILLIS INAMOROTA by LANCELOT ANDREWES RESIGNATION by AUGUSTE ANGELLIER TO A HUMMING BIRD by GLADYS ARNE CHARACTERS: SARAH TAYLOR RIGBY by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |