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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  464. To Leven Water

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Tobias George Smollett. 1721–1771

464. To Leven Water

PURE stream, in whose transparent wave 
My youthful limbs I wont to lave; 
No torrents stain thy limpid source, 
No rocks impede thy dimpling course 
Devolving from thy parent lake         5
A charming maze thy waters make 
By bowers of birch and groves of pine 
And edges flower’d with eglantine. 
 
Still on thy banks so gaily green 
May numerous herds and flocks be seen,  10
And lasses chanting o’er the pail, 
And shepherds piping in the dale, 
And ancient faith that knows no guile, 
And industry embrown’d with toil, 
And hearts resolved and hands prepared  15
The blessings they enjoy to guard.