My little horse must think it queer, To stop without a farmhouse near, Between the woods and frozen lake, The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake, To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep, Of easy wind and downy flake.
1 Unit 3 Poetry 诗意栖居
Байду номын сангаас
A Summer Day by the Sea
Written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The sun is set; and in his latest beams, Yon little cloud of ashen gray and gold, Slowly upon the amber air unrolled, The falling mantle of the Prophet seems.
Note (added by the translator Ezra Pound): Jewel stairs, therefore a palace. Grievance, therefore there is something to complain of. Gauze stockings, therefore a court lady, not a servant who complains. Clear autumn, therefore she has no excuse on account of the weather. Also she has come early, for the dew has not merely whitened the stairs, but has soaked her stockings. The poem is especially prized because she utters no direct reproach.