 | The Poems of John Clare |  |
140
THE FLOOD (II)
Those wrecky stains dart on the floods awayMore swift than shadows on a stormy day.
Things trail and turn and steady—all in vain;
The engulfing arches shoot them quickly through;
The feather dances, flutters, and again
Darts through the deepest dangers still afloat,
Seeming as fairies whisked it from the view
And danced it o'er the waves as pleasure's boat,
Light-hearted as a merry thought in May.
Trays, uptorn bushes, fence-demolished rails,
Loaded with weeds, in sluggish motions stray;
Like water monsters lost, each winds and trails
Till near the arches—then as in affright
It plunges, reels, and shudders out of sight.
| The Poems of John Clare | |