 | Poems at Home and Abroad |  |
II.
Thou wert the darling of our childish hours,
We loved thee for thy wanton restlessness,
We felt thy nature ours in its excess
Of life and song and laughter and sweet flowers:
Grown up to manhood's prime and strenuous powers
We watched thee labouring without weariness,
And knew thy cheer; as old men we could bless
Thy quiet pools in meditative bowers.
We loved thee for thy wanton restlessness,
We felt thy nature ours in its excess
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Grown up to manhood's prime and strenuous powers
We watched thee labouring without weariness,
And knew thy cheer; as old men we could bless
Thy quiet pools in meditative bowers.
Now sad or glad, alternate hopes and fears
Not knowing whence they came or whither going,
All lovers owned affinity with thee;
But sweetest was thy voice to dying ears
That heard through change and chance thy waters flowing,
Heaven-sent, Heaven-bound, to Life's unfathomed sea.
Not knowing whence they came or whither going,
All lovers owned affinity with thee;
But sweetest was thy voice to dying ears
That heard through change and chance thy waters flowing,
Heaven-sent, Heaven-bound, to Life's unfathomed sea.
| Poems at Home and Abroad | |