Swift and silent and strong
Under the low-browed arches,
Through culverts, and under bridges,
Sweeping with long forced marches
Down to the ultimate ridges,—
The sand, and the reeds, and the midges,
And the down-dropping tassels of larches,
That border the ocean of song.
Swift and silent and deep
Through the noisome and smoke-grimed city,
Turning the wheels and the spindles,
And the great looms that have no pity,—
Weight, and pulley, and windlass,
And steel that flashes and kindles,
And hears no forest-learnt ditty,
Not even in dreams and sleep.
Blithe and merry and sweet
Over its shallows singing,—
I hear before I awaken
The Bound of the church-bells ringing,
And the sound of the leaves wind-shaken,
Complaining and sun-forsaken,
And the oriole warbling and singing,
And the swish of the wind in the wheat
Sweet and tender and true!
From meadows of blossoming clover,
Where sleepy-eyed cows are lowing,
And bobolinks twittering over,—
Ebbing and falling and flowing—
Singing and gliding and going—
The river—my silver-shod lover,
Down to the infinite blue.
Deep, and tender, and strong!
With resonant voice and hole—
To far away sunshiny places,
Haunts of the bee and the swallow,
Where the Sabbath is sweet with the praises
Of dumb things, of weeds and of daisies,—
Oh river! I hear thee—I follow
To the ocean where I too belong.
(Kate Seymour Maclean)
More Poetry from Kate Seymour Maclean:
Kate Seymour Maclean Poems based on Topics: Place, Sleep, Cities, Dreams, Love, Singing, Praise, Weeds, Infinity, Complaints, Cows- The Coming of the Princess (Kate Seymour Maclean Poems)
- The Legend of the New Year (Kate Seymour Maclean Poems)
- An Idyll of the May (Kate Seymour Maclean Poems)
- Science, the Iconoclast (Kate Seymour Maclean Poems)
- The Coming Of The King (Kate Seymour Maclean Poems)
- The Meeting Of Spirits (Kate Seymour Maclean Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Love Poems, Dreams Poems, Place Poems, Sleep Poems, Praise Poems, Cities Poems, Singing Poems, Weeds Poems, Infinity Poems, Cows Poems, Complaints PoemsBased on Keywords: midges, windlass, sunshiny, over-, low-browed, pulley, pity-, river-, wind-shaken, bobolinks, singing-
- Threnodia Augustalis: Overture - Pastorale (Oliver Goldsmith Poems)
- The Song Of Hiawatha XV: Hiawatha's Lamentation (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Poems)
- The Progress Of Patriotism (Nicholas Amhurst Poems)
- Jerusalem Delivered - Book 02 - part 06 (Torquato Tasso Poems)
- The Nation's Loss (Jacob Rhodes Poems)