LESSON 27 THE BROOK
THE BROOK
I COME from haunts of coot ［1］ and hern ［2］ ,
I make a sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker ［3］ down a valley.
By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorps ［4］ , a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.
Till last by Philip's farm I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps ［5］ and trebles ［6］ ,
I bubble into eddying ［7］ bays,
I babble on the pebbles.
With many a curve my banks I fret,
By many a field and fallow ［8］ ,
And many a fairy foreland ［9］ set
With willow-weed ［10］ and mallow ［11］ .
I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
I wind about, and in and out,
With here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling ［12］ .
And here and there a foamy flake
Upon me, as I travel
With many a silvery waterbreak
Above the golden gravel.
And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
I FLOW TO JOIN THE BRIMMING RIVER.
I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers;
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
That grow for happy lovers.
I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.
I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses ［13］ .
And out again I curve and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
—ALFRED LORD TENNYSON
* * *
［1 ］ coot: A black wading bird.
［2 ］ hern: Heron; a long-legged wading bird.
［3 ］ bicker: Quarrel, carry on a brief battle.
［4 ］ thorp: A group of houses, a village.
［5 ］ sharp: A musical sign to raise a note; shrill sound.
［6 ］ treble: Very high or shrill sound.
［7 ］ eddying: Whirling, moving round and round.
［8 ］ fallow: Ground not being tilled.
［9 ］ foreland: Headland, cape.
［10 ］ willow-weed: A tall, downy weed with purple flowers.
［11 ］ mallow: A plant with downy leaves.
［12 ］ grayling: A fish of the salmon tribe.
［13 ］ cress: A water plant used in salads.
