QUESTION AND ANSWER
THE QUESTION
THE river is flowing,
The stars coming forth:
Great ruddy clouds going
From westward to north.
The rushes are waving,
The water’s still blue:
And I am behaving
Decorously too:
The amorous zephyr
Breathes soft in our ear:
Who hears not is deafer
Ah! list to the whisper
Of waters and sky!
Thames, vagabond lisper
Grows subtle and sly.
How trebly delicious
The air-draughts we quaff:
The hour is propitious:—
Oh! . . . why do you laugh?
THE ANSWER
Ask the sky why it flushes,
The clouds why they glow:
The weir why it gushes,
The reeds why they grow:
The moon why it rises,
The sun why it sets:
Her why she surprises,
Him why he forgets:
The star why it twinkles,
The west why it shines:
The brow why it wrinkles,
The heart why it pines:
Mankind why they blunder,
The corn why there’s chaff:
Ask yourself why you wonder—
Not me why I laugh!
J. K. Stephen.