Classic Poem

“F LOW on, thou shining river,”
Flow gaily to the sea;
Flow on in beauty ever,
With all thy melody.
Where has thy gentle current strayed?
Teach all thy joyous tale to me;
Let it flow on through light and shade;
My song shall follow thee.

Through meadows now meander,
With graceful sweet delay;
And now, through green woods wander,
Where scarcely peeps the day:
Now, where the lofty bank hangs o'er,
Pursue thy wild, romantic way;
Down the steep rocks now swiftly pour,
Like time, that cannot stay.

Its murmurs now increasing,
On thy glad current goes;
And now, with roar unceasing,
The rapid torrent flows;
And now, all tossed in feathery foam,
Sparkling with rainbow light it glows;
It seems impatient for its home,
And hastening to repose.

Flow on, thou shining river,
Thou soon shalt reach the sea;
Thus we are passing ever,
And haste away like thee.
Wave after wave, in ceaseless flow,
Moves onward to eternity:
O may the stream thy gladness know,
And thy sweet melody!