Four water poems, in honor of yet another day. I've marked the authors' death dates so you can see who was more or less contemporaneous with whom. Two women, two men. Two famous writers, two not-famous writers. Three Americans (two New Englanders and a Nebraskan), one Brit. All white, all middle class. What's your conclusion about quality? Maybe I'll give you my opinion tomorrow.

The Cherwell

Milly Jourdain (d. 1926)

This bare bright day of early spring, when still

We feel the touch of winter in the wind,

It's good to watch the river's endless flow

And restless moving of the thin brown twigs;

To see the tree-trunks down in those cold depths,

To hear the rushing sound of wind-swept woods,

And see the yellow foam below the weir,

And wish our life could be as excellent.

I was born upon thy bank, river

Henry David Thoreau (d. 1862)

I was born upon thy bank, river,

          My blood flows in thy stream,

And thou meanderest forever

          At the bottom of my dream.

Big Swimming

Edwin Ford Piper (d. 1939)

Rain on the high prairies,

In dusk of autumnal hills;

Under the creaking saddle

My cheerless pony plods. . . .

Down where the obscure water

Lapping the lithe willows

Sunders the chilling plain--

Rusty-hearted and travel worn--

We set our bodies

To the November flood.

The farther shore is a cloud

Beyond midnight. . . .

Big swimming.

Poem 520

Emily Dickinson (d. 1886)

I started Early--Took my Dog--

And visited the Sea--

The Mermaids in the Basement

Came out to look at me--

And Frigates--in the Upper Floor

Extended Hempen Hands--

Presuming Me to be a Mouse--

Aground--upon the Sands--

But no Man moved Me--till the Tide

Went past my simple Shoe--

And past my Apron--and my Belt

And past my Bodice--too--

And made as He would eat me up

As wholly as a Dew

Upon a Dandelion's Sleeve--

And then--I started--too--

And He--He followed--close behind--

I felt His Silver Heel

Upon my Ankle--Then my Shoes

Would overflow with Pearl--

Until We met the Solid Town--

No One He seemed to know--

And bowing--with a Mighty look--

At me--The Sea withdrew--