Home Further Reading and Study The Lesson of the Water-Mill

The Lesson of the Water-Mill

Listen to the water-mill; Through the livelong day, How the clicking of its wheel Wears the hours away! Languidly the autumn wind, Stirs the forest leaves, From the field the reapers sing, Binding up their sheaves; And a proverb haunts my mind As a spell is cast -- “The mill cannot grind With the water that is past.” Autumn winds revive no more Leave that once are shred, And the sickle cannot reap Corn once gathered; Flows the ruffled streamlet on, Tranquil, deep and still; Never gliding back again To the water-mill; Truly speaks the proverb old With a meaning vast -- “The mill cannot grind With the water that is past.” Take the lesson to thyself, True and loving heart; Golden youth is fleeting by, Summer hours depart; Learn to make the most of life, Lose no happy day; Time will never bring thee back Chances swept away! Leave no tender word unsaid, Love while love shall last -- “The mill cannot grind With the water that is past.” Work while yet the daylight shines, Given strength and will! Never does the streamlet glide Useless by the mill; Wait not till to-morrow’s sun Beams upon thy way, All that thou canst call thine own Lies in thy “To-day” ... Power, intellect and health May not always last -- “The mill cannot grind With the water that is past.” Oh, the wasted hours of life That have drifted by! Oh, the good that might have been -- Lost, without a sigh! Love that we might once have saved By a single word, Thoughts conceived, but never penned, Perishing unheard, -- Take the proverb to thine heart, Take and hold it fast -- “The mill cannot grind With the water that is past.”                                   Sarah Doudney