Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti
John Keble (17921866)The Waterfall (from Lyra Innocentium)
G
Sheer from the mountain’s height—
One in a thousand on they fare,
Now flashing to the sun,
Now still as beast in lair.
In lawless dance they win their way,
Still seeming more and more
To swell as we survey,
Not wilder drives the wintry storm.
Yet a strong law they keep,
Strange powers their course inform.
Its living waters from above,
All marred and broken seem,
No union and no love.
In dreams of mortals unespied:
One is their awful end,
One their unfailing Guide.