| |
| FROM rise of morn till set of sun | |
| I ’ve seen the mighty Mohawk run; | |
| And as I marked the woods of pine | |
| Along his mirror darkly shine, | |
| Like tall and gloomy forms that pass | 5 |
| Before the wizard’s midnight glass; | |
| And as I viewed the hurrying pace | |
| With which he ran his turbid race, | |
| Rushing, alike untired and wild, | |
| Through shades that frowned and flowers that smiled, | 10 |
| Flying by every green recess | |
| That wooed him to its calm caress, | |
| Yet, sometimes turning with the wind, | |
| As if to leave one look behind, | |
| Oft have I thought, and thinking sighed, | 15 |
| How like to thee, thou restless tide, | |
| May be the lot, the life of him | |
| Who roams along thy water’s brim; | |
| Through what alternate wastes of woe | |
| And flowers of joy my path may go; | 20 |
| How many a sheltered, calm retreat | |
| May woo the while my weary feet, | |
| While still pursuing, still unblest, | |
| I wander on, nor dare to rest; | |
| But, urgent as the doom that calls | 25 |
| Thy water to its destined falls, | |
| I feel the world’s bewildering force | |
| Hurry my heart’s devoted course | |
| From lapse to lapse, till life be done, | |
| And the spent current cease to run. | 30 |
| |
| One only prayer I dare to make, | |
| As onward thus my course I take,— | |
| Oh, be my falls as bright as thine! | |
| May heaven’s relenting rainbow shine | |
| Upon the mist that circles me, | 35 |
| As soft as now it hangs o’er thee! | |
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