DOWN
THE SONGO
|
|
|
|
FLOATING!
Floating—and all the stillness waits
And listens at the ivory gates,
Full of a dim uncertain presage
Of some strange, undelivered message. |
5 |
There
is no sound save from the bush
The alto of the shy wood-thrush,
And ever and anon the dip
Of a lazy oar.
The
rhythmic drowsiness keeps time
|
10 |
To hazy
subtleties of rhyme
That seem to slip
Through the lulled soul to seek the sleepy shore.
The idle clouds go floating by;
Above us sky, beneath us sky; |
15 |
The
sun shines on us as we lie
Floating.
It is a dream.
It is a dream, my love; see how
The ripples quiver at the prow,
|
20 |
And
all the long reflections shake
Unsteadily beneath the lake.
The mists about the uplands show
Dim violet towers that come and go.
Phantasmagoric palaces |
25 |
Rise
trembling there,
As though one breath of waking weather
Would crash their airy walls together
With sudden stress,
While silent detonations shook the air— |
30 |
Vast
fabrics toppling to the ground
And vanishing without a sound.
Ah, love, these are not what we deem;
It is a dream. |
|
II
|
|
| Let
us dream on, then,—dream and die |
35 |
Ere
the dream pass.
Let us for once, like idle flowers,
Let slip the unregarded hours,
Like the wise flowers that lie
Unfretted by a feeble thought, |
40 |
Future
and past alike forgot,
Drinking the dew contentedly
In the cool grass. |
|
III
|
|
Look
yonder where the clouds float; could we glide
As they, across the sky's blue shoreless tide, |
45 |
What
better were it than to dream
Across yon lake and into this still stream? |
|
IV
|
|
Trees
and a glimpse of sky!
And the slow river, quiet as a pool!
And thou and I—and thou and I— |
50 |
| Kiss
me! How soft the air is and how cool! |
|
|
