The Brook

I come from haunts of coot and hern,
   I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
   To bicker down a valley.
By thirty hills I hurry down,
   Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorpes, 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 over stony ways,
   In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
   I babble on the pebbles.
With many a curve my banks I fret
   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,
   And here and there a grayling,
And here and there a foamy flake
   Upon me, as I travel
With many a silvery water-break
   Above the golden gravel,
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 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 under moon and stars
   In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly 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.

Note: Today is National Relaxation Day, so take a deep breath and imagine the movement of the water as you listen to the words today's poem.