Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79. | | | | Rivilin, the River | | The Tree of Rivilin | | Ebenezer Elliott (1781–1849) |
| | | THE LIGHTNING, like an Arab, crossed | |
| The moon’s dark path on high, | |
| And wild on Rivilin writhed and tossed | |
| The stars and troubled sky, | |
| Where lone the tree of ages grew, | 5 |
| With branches wide and tall: | |
| Ah! who, when such a tempest blew, | |
| Could hear his stormy fall? | |
| But now the skies, the stars are still, | |
| The blue wave sleeps again, | 10 |
| And heath and moss, by rock and rill, | |
| Are whispering, in disdain, | |
| That Rivilin’s side is desolate, | |
| Her giant in the dust! | |
| Beware, O Power! for God is great, | 15 |
| O Guilt! for God is just! | |
| And boast not, Pride! while millions pine, | |
| That wealth secures thy home: | |
| The storm that shakes all hearths but thine | |
| Is not the storm to come. | 20 |
| The tremor of the stars is pale, | |
| The dead clod quakes with fear, | |
| The worm slinks down o’er hill and vale, | |
| When God in wrath draws near. | |
| But if the Upas will not bend | 25 |
| Beneath the frown of Heaven, | |
| A whisper cometh, which shall rend | |
| What thunder hath not riven. | | | | |
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