 | Poems by James Rhoades |  |
36
BY THE ROTHA.
You ask a song, and I will sing
Of that sweet day we spent together:
Green were the banks by Rotha's spring,
And warm the sunny weather.
Of that sweet day we spent together:
Green were the banks by Rotha's spring,
And warm the sunny weather.
We found a quiet cool retreat,
Such as the simple heart rejoices—
Green leaves above, beneath our feet
A brook with many voices:
Such as the simple heart rejoices—
Green leaves above, beneath our feet
A brook with many voices:
And there were clouds, that sailed in sleep,
Of forms and colours never ending;
And white with many a cataract's leap
Far hills to heaven ascending.
Of forms and colours never ending;
And white with many a cataract's leap
Far hills to heaven ascending.
37
Yet sought we not on Fancy's wings
Of Nature's finer truths to borrow;
As men may speak of common things,
We spake of joy and sorrow:
Of Nature's finer truths to borrow;
As men may speak of common things,
We spake of joy and sorrow:
But so it fell—I know not why—
That, as the hours went softly stealing,
Green leaves and mountains, brook and sky,
Seemed fraught with human feeling.
That, as the hours went softly stealing,
Green leaves and mountains, brook and sky,
Seemed fraught with human feeling.
Enough, there do such hours befall,
When Nature to the soul is nearest;
Why seek, what we can ne'er recall,
The power that made them dearest?
When Nature to the soul is nearest;
Why seek, what we can ne'er recall,
The power that made them dearest?
Enough that when these locks are gray,
And we have spent a life together,
Our heart sometimes will steal away
And softly travel thither.
And we have spent a life together,
Our heart sometimes will steal away
And softly travel thither.
| Poems by James Rhoades | |