NOWHERE such a devious stream, | |
| Save in fancy or in dream, | |
| Winding slow through bush brake, | |
| Links together lake and lake. | |
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| Walled with woods or sandy shelf, | 5 |
| Ever doubling on itself | |
| Flows the stream, so still and slow | |
| That it hardly seems to flow. | |
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| Never errant knight of old, | |
| Lost in woodland or on wold, | 10 |
| Such a winding path pursued | |
| Through the sylvan solitude. | |
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| Never school-boy, in his quest | |
| After hazel-nut or nest, | |
| Through the forest in and out | 15 |
| Wandered loitering thus about. | |
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| In the mirror of its tide | |
| Tangled thickets on each side | |
| Hang inverted, and between | |
| Floating cloud or sky serene. | 20 |
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| Swift or swallow on the wing | |
| Seems the only living thing, | |
| Or the loon, that laughs and flies | |
| Down to those reflected skies. | |
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| Silent stream! thy Indian name | 25 |
| Unfamiliar is to fame; | |
| For thou hidest here alone, | |
| Well content to be unknown. | |
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| But thy tranquil waters teach | |
| Wisdom deep as human speech, | 30 |
| Moving without haste or noise | |
| In unbroken equipoise. | |
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| Though thou turnest no busy mill, | |
| And art ever calm and still, | |
| Even thy silence seems to say | 35 |
| To the traveller on his way:— | |
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| “Traveller, hurrying from the heat | |
| Of the city, stay thy feet! | |
| Rest awhile, nor longer waste | |
| Life with inconsiderate haste! | 40 |
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| “Be not like a stream that brawls | |
| Loud with shallow waterfalls, | |
| But in quiet self-control | |
| Link together soul and soul.” | |
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