名人诗歌|THE BROOK

BY ALFRED TENNISON.

I come from haunts of coot and hern, I make a sudden sally, And sparkle out among the fern, To bicker^{2 down a valley.}

By thirty hills I hurry down, Or slip between the ridges^{3, By twenty thorps, 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 forever.

I chatter^{4 over stony5 ways, In little sharps and trebles； I bubble into eddying6 bays, I babble7 on the pebbles8.}

With many a curve my banks I fret^{9 By many a field and fallow, And many a fairy foreland set With willow-weed and mallow.}

I chatter, chatter, as I flow To join the brimming river； For men may come； and men may go, But I go on forever. I wind about, and in and out, With here a blossom sailing, And here and there a lusty trout^{10, And here and there a grayling,}

And here and there a foamy^{11 flake12 Upon me, as I travel, With many a silvery waterbreak Above the golden gravel13,}

And draw them all along, and flow To join the brimming river； For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever.

I steal by lawns and grassy^{14 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^{15 under moon and stars In brambly wildernesses16； I linger by my shingly17 bars, I loiter round my cresses；}

And out again I curve and flow To join the brimming river； For men may come, and men may go, But I go on forever.