The Poplar Field by William Cowper
b"Cowper read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\\nGiving voice to the poetry of the past.\\n\\n---------------------------------------------\\n\\nThe Poplar Field\\nby William Cowper (1731 \\u2013 1800)\\n\\nThe poplars are fell'd! farewell to the shade \\nAnd the whispering sound of the cool colonnade; \\nThe winds play no longer and sing in the leaves, \\nNor Ouse on his bosom their image receives. \\n \\nTwelve years have elapsed since I last took a view \\nOf my favourite field, and the bank where they grew; \\nAnd now in the grass behold they are laid, \\nAnd the tree is my seat that once lent me a shade! \\n \\nThe blackbird has fled to another retreat \\nWhere the hazels afford him a screen from the heat, \\nAnd the scene where his melody charm'd me before \\nResounds with his sweet-flowing ditty no more. \\n \\nMy fugitive years are all hasting away, \\nAnd I must ere long lie as lowly as they, \\nWith a turf on my breast and a stone at my head, \\nEre another such grove shall arise in its stead. \\n \\nThe change both my heart and my fancy employs, \\nI reflect on the frailty of man and his joys; \\nShort-lived as we are, yet our pleasures, we see, \\nHave a still shorter date, and die sooner than we. \\n\\nYou may wish to compare this with Binsey Poplars, by Gerard Manley Hopkins:\\n\\nhttp://classicpoetryaloud.podomatic.com/entry/2007-10-03T00_26_53-07_00"