Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti
Arthur Hugh Clough (18191861)The Stream of Life (from Poems on Life and Duty)
O
Thy mossy banks between,
The flowerets blow, the grasses grow,
The leafy trees are green.
The fields the labourers till,
And houses stand on either hand,
And thou descendest still.
Our waking eyes behold,
Parent and friend thy lapse attend,
Companions young and old.
Our hearts affections fill,
We toil and earn, we seek and learn,
And thou descendest still.
Inevitable sea,
To which we flow, what do we know,
What shall we guess of thee?
As we our course fulfil;
Scarce we divine a sun will shine
And be above us still.