Classic Poem

The La Plata chants silver
Where its glittering waters roll,
Melodies of dreamy romance
Bring repose unto the soul.
While meandering down the valley
Rio Dolores, grief to cast,
As the ancient River Lethe,
All oblivion of the past.

Rio Blanco sings in rapture
Of blue lakes with sporting fish,
San Miguel, of health and treasure,
Best of wealth that one could wish.
Rio Grande is delighting,
Tells of Monte Vista's Vale,
Roaring Fork in icy leaping,
Softly whispers: “Carbondale.”

Yampa moans in forlorn cadence
Of red walls and temples grand,
And the San Juan, lost and lonely,
Of the rainbow bridges' land.
Mancos, of cliff-dwellers' ruins,
Indians, Navajos and Utes,
While in far Utah, Green River
Weirdly drones of castled buttes.

Eagle River cries in freedom,
As an eaglet from the nest,
Colorado's flashing ripplets,
El Dorado, Golden West
Roars in anger—fiercely warning,
Gunnison, Black Canyon doom,
And Rio de Las Animas
Echoes dark despair and gloom.

Symphonies of Rio Los Pinos
Woo the balm of scented pines,
Florida's concert of flower-songs
Caress the purple columbines.
Huerfano of Huajatolla
Mourns in spirit-haunted glades,
And Conejos, lisping, wailing,
Races in swift white cascades.

Not so, Uncompahgre River
In its mountain chasm deep,
Sometimes glad, yet sadly sighing,
Often mystically to weep.
For its wavelets, murmuring splashing,
Tender lyrics thus convey,
No vale kissed by laughing waters,
Can be lovely as Ouray.