44. The Torrent

I FOUND a torrent falling in a glen

Where the sun’s light shone silvered and leaf-split;

The boom, the foam, and the mad flash of it

All made a magic symphony; but when

I thought upon the coming of hard men

To cut those patriarchal trees away,

And turn to gold the silver of that spray,

I shuddered. Yet a gladness now and then

Did wake me to myself till I was glad

In earnest, and was welcoming the time

For screaming saws to sound above the chime

Of idle waters, and for me to know

The jealous visionings that I had had

Were steps to the great place where trees and torrents go.