The Timber by Henry Vaughan
b"Vaughan read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\\nGiving voice to the poetry of the past.\\n\\n---------------------------------------------\\n\\n The Timber\\nby Henry Vaughan (1621 \\u2013 1695) \\n \\n\\nSure thou didst flourish once! and many springs, \\n Many bright mornings, much dew, many showers, \\nPass'd o'er thy head; many light hearts and wings, \\n Which now are dead, lodg'd in thy living bowers. \\n \\nAnd still a new succession sings and flies; \\n Fresh groves grow up, and their green branches shoot \\nTowards the old and still enduring skies, \\n While the low violet thrives at their root. \\n \\nBut thou beneath the sad and heavy line \\n Of death, doth waste all senseless, cold, and dark; \\nWhere not so much as dreams of light may shine, \\n Nor any thoughts of greenness, leaf, or bark. \\n \\nAnd yet\\u2014as if some deep hate and dissent, \\n Bred in thy growth betwixt high winds and thee, \\nWere still alive\\u2014thou dost great storms resent \\n Before they come, and know'st how near they be. \\n \\nElse all at rest thou liest, and the fierce breath \\n Of tempests can no more disturb thy ease; \\nBut this thy strange resentment after death \\n Means only those who broke\\u2014in life\\u2014thy peace."