Azure Meres
            A Shropshire Lad, XX

‘Neath Bredon Hill
In azure meres,                       mere - a pond
He spies a fairer land
Of pebbles bright
And waters bright
And sparkling
Golden sand.

He yearns “to strip
And dive and drown”
Until he meets the eye
Of one already drowned
Who “looks
And wishes
He were I.”

The self reflects
Desire and fear
Oppressing
Every man.
The soul has
A surer mirror
And a surer plan.

                        Oh fair enough are sky and plain,
                        But I know fairer far:
                        Those are as beautiful again
                        That in the water are;

                        The pools and rivers wash so clean
                        The trees and clouds and air,
                        The like on earth has never seen,
                        And oh that I were there.

                        These are the thoughts I often think
                        As I stand gazing down
                        In act upon the cressy brink
                        To strip and dive and drown;

                        But in the golden-sanded brooks
                        And azure meres I spy
                        A silly lad that longs and looks
                        And wishes he were I.
                                                                         -AEH