THE MOUNTAIN STREAM
Far up a mountain, cool, and grand, and vast,
A mountain stream had birth! to life it sprang,
As from a giant's brain, a mighty thought,
And from its bubbling depths sweet music rang!
A mountain stream had birth! to life it sprang,
As from a giant's brain, a mighty thought,
And from its bubbling depths sweet music rang!
It flowed along 'mong moss and maidenhair—
And the sweetly-scented, trailing Arbutus,
And mountain Laurel, with buds like tiny shells,
And blossoms fashioned into many a truss.
And the sweetly-scented, trailing Arbutus,
And mountain Laurel, with buds like tiny shells,
And blossoms fashioned into many a truss.
It flowed on swiftly 'neath tall, whispering pines,
And divers kinds of trees and underbrush;
Anon, it sprang o'er many a bedded rock
Creating symphonies in its swirl and rush.
And divers kinds of trees and underbrush;
Anon, it sprang o'er many a bedded rock
Creating symphonies in its swirl and rush.
And many a timid, mountain denizen
Came there to drink and sport within its depths;
And many a bird came there to bathe and splash,
As o'er wide stones it sped like downward steps.
Came there to drink and sport within its depths;
And many a bird came there to bathe and splash,
As o'er wide stones it sped like downward steps.
And soon it left the mountain far behind.
And wound among the hills in silver sheen,
Where wild-flowers carpeted the tender grass
And shown like clustered stars among the green.
And wound among the hills in silver sheen,
Where wild-flowers carpeted the tender grass
And shown like clustered stars among the green.
On, on it went, where trees did interlace
Their branches, high, above its onward rush;
And willows graced its banks in graceful clumps;
And o'er it rang the music of the thrush.
Their branches, high, above its onward rush;
And willows graced its banks in graceful clumps;
And o'er it rang the music of the thrush.
It sped through meadows, where forget-me-nots
Did grace its banks in knots, like sweet, blue eyes;
And rushes stood knee-deep within its depths,
Like slender bathers, pausing maiden-wise.
Did grace its banks in knots, like sweet, blue eyes;
And rushes stood knee-deep within its depths,
Like slender bathers, pausing maiden-wise.
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