H Vaughan read by Classic Poetry Aloud:

http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/

Giving voice to the poetry of the past.

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The Timber

by Henry Vaughan (1621 – 1695)

Sure thou didst flourish once! and many springs,

Many bright mornings, much dew, many showers,

Pass'd o'er thy head; many light hearts and wings,

Which now are dead, lodg'd in thy living bowers.

And still a new succession sings and flies;

Fresh groves grow up, and their green branches shoot

Towards the old and still enduring skies,

While the low violet thrives at their root.

But thou beneath the sad and heavy line

Of death, doth waste all senseless, cold, and dark;

Where not so much as dreams of light may shine,

Nor any thoughts of greenness, leaf, or bark.

And yet—as if some deep hate and dissent,

Bred in thy growth betwixt high winds and thee,

Were still alive—thou dost great storms resent

Before they come, and know'st how near they be.

Else all at rest thou liest, and the fierce breath

Of tempests can no more disturb thy ease;

But this thy strange resentment after death

Means only those who broke—in life—thy peace.

First aired: 27 February 2008

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