Page:Writings of Henry David Thoreau (1906) v7.djvu/204

122 movement of the waters. You seem to hear the roar of a waterfall and the din of factories where the river breaks over the road.

Who would have thought that a few feet might not have been spared from the trunks of most trees? Such as grow in the meadows, and are now surrounded by that depth of water, have a dwarfish appearance. No matter whether they are longer or shorter, they are now equally out of proportion.

Feb. 24.

A stir is on the Worcester hills,

And Nobscot too the valley fills;

Where scarce you'd fill an acorn cup

In summer when the sun was up,

No more you'll find a cup at all,

But in its place a waterfall.

O that the moon were in conjunction

To the dry land's extremest unction,

Till every dike and pier were flooded,

And all the land with islands studded,

For once to teach all human kind,

Both those that plow and those that grind,

There is no fixture in the land,

But all unstable is as sand.

The river swelleth more and more,

Like some sweet influence stealing o'er

The passive town; and for a while

Each tussock makes a tiny isle,