Poetry Archives

From the mountain gray
  It has made its way
To my garden green and cool,
  And there, from the edge
  Of a rocky ledge
Leaps down to a crystal pool.

  With a plunging flash
  It falls, to dash
That crystal into foam;
  And then at a bound
  Slips under ground
To the lake,—its final home.

  In the morning light,
  In the silent night,
When the moonlight gems the scene,
  It laughs and sings,
  And a light spray flings
O’er stately walls of green.

  For in and out,
  And round about,
Grow flowers, plants, and trees,
  From the lowly moss
  To the boughs that toss
Their leaves in the passing breeze.

  On its outer zone
  Of massive stone
Two marble statues stand,—
  The silver sheen
  Of the pool between,—
One form on either hand.

  One of the pair
  Is a woman fair,
With parted, smiling lips;
  For her each hour
  A honied flower,
And she the bee that sips.

  The other, a faun,
  From whom is gone
The power to frankly smile;
  For whom each day,
  As it drags away,
Makes life still less worth while.

  The face of the one
  Is like the sun,
With its warmth, and light, and cheer;
  But the faun looks down
  With ugly frown,
And his lips retain a sneer.

  Youth and age,
  Child and sage!
The former with life unknown;
  The latter burnt
  By lessons learnt,
With a heart now turned to stone.

  Yet the torrent speeds,
  And never heeds
The statues’ smiles or sneers;
  They come and go,
  But the water’s flow
Has lasted a thousand years.