The Flood

[wolfinthewood]

Waves trough, rebound, and furious boil again,
Like plunging monsters rising underneath,
Who at the top curl up a shaggy mane,
A moment catching at a surer breath,
    Then plunging headlong down and down, and on
    Each following whirls the shadow of the last;
    And other monsters rise when those are gone,
    Crest their fringed waves, plunge onward and are past.
The chill air comes around me oceanly,
From bank to bank the waterstrife is spread;
Strange birds like snowspots oer the whizzing sea
Hang where the wild duck hurried past and fled.
    On roars the flood, all restless to be free,
    Like Trouble wandering to Eternity.

John Clare (1793–1864)


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