National Lyrics, and Songs for Music/The Stream set free

For other versions of this work, see The Stream Set Free.


VII.

THE STREAM SET FREE.




Flow on, rejoice, make music,
    Bright living stream set free!
The troubled haunts of care and strife
    Were not for thee!

The woodland is thy country,
    Thou art all its own again;
The wild birds are thy kindred race,
    That fear no chain.

Flow on, rejoice, make music
    Unto the glistening leaves!
Thou, the beloved of balmy winds,
    And golden eves.


Once more the holy starlight
    Sleeps calm upon thy breast,
Whose brightness bears no token more
    Of man's unrest.

Flow, and let free-born music
    Flow with thy wavy line,
While the stock-dove's lingering loving voice
    Comes blent with thine.

And the green reeds quivering o'er thee,
    Strings of the forest-lyre,
All fill'd with answering spirit-sounds,
    In joy respire.

Yet, midst thy song's glad changes,
    Oh! keep one pitying tone
For gentle hearts, that bear to thee
    Their sadness lone.


One sound, of all the deepest,
    To bring, like healing dew,
A sense, that nature ne'er forsakes
    The meek and true.

Then, then, rejoice, make music,
    Thou stream, thou glad and free!
The shadows of all glorious flowers
    Be set in thee!