The Rivulet: Lord Tennyson

Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea,

Thy tribute wave deliver :

No more by thee my steps shall be,

For ever and for ever.

Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea,

A rivulet and then a river :

No where by thee my steps shall be,

For ever and for ever.

But here will sigh thine alder tree,

And here thine aspen shiver;

And here by thee will hum the bee,

For ever and for ever.

A thousand suns will stream on thee,

A thousand moons will quiver;

But not by thee my steps shall be,

For ever and for ever.

Summary: In this poem, ‘The Rivulet’, the poet Lord Tennyson describes about a farewell. He depicts a picture of death. He compares life with a small stream. This cold stream will grow into a river and flow into the sea. Like this stream our life begins. We grow up and at last we die. After the death, the process of funeral begins. It is a natural event. In every step, we leave our mark in this world. We will be buried, but the mark will be left alone. The nature will remain as usual – the alder tree, the low continuous sound of the bee, the sun and the moon. Only our lives will fade away from this world.