Down the hillside tripping brightly,
O’er the pebbles tinkling lightly,
‘Mid the meadows rippling merrily, the mountain-
current goes;
By the broken rocks careering,
Thro’ the desert persevering,
Flowing onward ever, ever singing as it flows.
But oh ! the darksome caves,
That swallow up the waves!
Oh! the shadow-haunted forest, and the sandy
shallows wide!
Oh! the hollow-reeded fen,
Like the stagnant minds of men,
A desert for the silver foot of mountain-cradled tide!
And oh! the withered leaves
From the falling forest eaves,
Pressing on its forehead, like the signet of decay;
And the cold cloud’s troubling tear
On its crystal waters clear,
Like a haunting sorrow running down the future
of its way.
Oh! the quick, precipitous riot
That breaks upon its quiet,
When lingering, by some shady bank, in dream-
engendering rest!
Oh! the Stormy wind that mars
The image of the stars,
When they nestle, heavenly lovers’ on their
earthly wooer’s breast!
But the wild flowers love thy side;
And the birds sing o’er thy tide;
And the shy deer from the highlands confidingly
descends;
And to thee, the sun of care,
With a blessing and a prayer,
From life’s great wilderness in a thirsting spirit
wends.
And the fairies never seen,
Come tripping o’er the green,
To gaze into thy mirror, the live-long summer
night;
And the glory of the skies,
That the blind Earth idly eyes,
Fills the pulses of thy being with the fullness of
its light.
(Ernest Jones)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Night Poems, Light Poems, Dreams Poems, Success Poems, Birds Poems, Prayers Poems, Silver Poems, Future Poems, Blessings Poems, Fairy PoemsBased on Keywords: precipitous, wends, persevering, signet, engendering, confidingly, shadow-haunted