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FLOW on, sweet river! like his verse | |
Who lies beneath this sculptured hearse; | |
Nor wait beside the churchyard wall | |
For him who cannot hear thy call. | |
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Thy playmate once; I see him now | 5 |
A boy with sunshine on his brow, | |
And hear in Stratfords quiet street | |
The patter of his little feet. | |
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I see him by thy shallow edge | |
Wading knee-deep amid the sedge; | 10 |
And lost in thought, as if thy stream | |
Were the swift river of a dream. | |
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He wonders whitherward it flows; | |
And fain would follow where it goes, | |
To the wide world, that shall erelong | 15 |
Be filled with his melodious song. | |
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Flow on, fair stream! That dream is oer; | |
He stands upon another shore; | |
A vaster river near him flows, | |
And still he follows where it goes. | 20 |
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