Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Matthew Arnold (1822–88). The Poems of Matthew Arnold, 1840–1867. 1909.

Empedocles on Etna, and Other Poems

The River

STILL glides the stream, slow drops the boat

Under the rustling poplars’ shade;

Silent the swans beside us float:

None speaks, none heeds—ah, turn thy head.

Let those arch eyes now softly shine,

That mocking mouth grow sweetly bland:

Ah, let them rest, those eyes, on mine;

On mine let rest that lovely hand.

My pent-up tears oppress my brain,

My heart is swoln with love unsaid:

Ah, let me weep, and tell my pain,

And on thy shoulder rest my head.

Before I die, before the soul,

Which now is mine, must re-attain

Immunity from my control,

And wander round the world again:

Before this teas’d o’erlabour’d heart

For ever leaves its vain employ,

Dead to its deep habitual smart,

And dead to hopes of future joy.