An Old Picture Poem by John Boyle O'Reilly
An Old Picture
THERE are times when a dream delicious
Steals into a musing hour,
Like a face with love capricious
That peeps from a woodland bower;
And one dear scene comes changeless;
A wooded hill and a river;
A deep, cool bend, where the lilies end,
And the elm-tree shadows quiver.
And I lie on the brink there, dreaming
That the life I live is a dream;
That the real is but the seeming,
And the true is the sun-flecked stream.
Beneath me, the perch and the bream sail past
In the dim cool depths of the river;
The struggling fly breaks the mirrored sky
And the elm-tree shadows quiver.
There are voices of children away on the hill;
There are bees thro' the flag-flowers humming;
The lighter-man calls to the lock, and the mill
On the farther side is drumming.
And I sink to sleep in my dream of a dream,
In the grass by the brink of a river,
Where the voices blend and the lilies end
And the elm-tree shadows quiver.
Like a gift from the past is the kindly dream,
For the sorrow and passion and pain
Are adrift like the leaves on the breast of the stream,
And the child-life comes again.
O, the sweet sweet pain of a joy that died—
Of a pain that is joy forever!
O, the life that died in the stormy tide
That was once my sun-flecked river.
Beautiful imagery with a sense of unhurried time spent with Nature dreaming and watching small happenings past by in slow motion.
an old picture reminds and tells the whole happy to sorrow story of the past
I like the internal rhymes and the flow of the poetic words.
Beautiful. A dream that steals in morning and leaves one with a desire to go back to sleep.......written with such lovely expressions and poetic rhythm.
Where the voices blend and the lilies end And the elm-tree shadows quiver. Like a gift from the past is the kindly dream, For the sorrow and passion and pain Are adrift like the leaves on the breast of the stream, And the child-life comes again.. very good poem.
This is a truly beautiful poem that flows lyrically and shows excellent craftsmanship...
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Delivering Poems Around The World
Poems are the property of their respective owners. All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge...
4/26/2024 12:37:53 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Gorgeous imagery! I'd paste my favorite lines here but then I'd be posting about 3/4 of the poem!