Quote#Nature
Oxus, forgetting the bright speed he had
Quote byMatthew Arnold · 1822–1888
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Sohrab and Rustum (1853), Lines 864ff (Read by Alan Brownjohn for The Poetry Archive *).
English (original)
Oxus, forgetting the bright speed he had In his high mountain cradle in Pamere, A foil’d circuitous wanderer:—till at last The long’d-for dash of waves is heard, and wide His luminous home of waters opens, bright And tranquil, from whose floor the new-bath’d stars Emerge, and shine upon the Aral Sea.
— Matthew Arnold
More from Matthew Arnold
A God, a God their severance ruled! And bade betwixt their shores to be The unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea.
Yes: in the sea of life enisl’d, With echoing straits between us thrown, Dotting the shoreless watery wild, We mortal millions live alone.
I keep saying, Shakspeare, Shakspeare, you are as obscure as life is.
We cannot kindle when we will The fire that in the heart resides, The spirit bloweth and is still, In mystery our soul abides; — But tasks, in hours of insight willed, Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.
Calm soul of all things! make it mine To feel, amid the city’s jar, That there abides a peace of thine, Man did not make, and cannot mar.
With aching hands and bleeding feet We dig and heap, lay stone on stone; We bear the burden and the heat Of the long day and wish’t were done. Not till the hours of light return All we have built do we discern.