Classic Poem

Youth, whose ingenuous nature, just and kind,
Looks from that gentle eye, that open brow,
Wilt thou be ever thus, in heart and mind,
As guileless and as merciful as now?
Behold this streamlet, whose sweet waters wind
Among green knolls unbroken by the plough,
Where wild-flowers woo the bee and wild-birds find
Safe nests and secret in the cedar bough.
This stream must reach the sea, and then no more
Its purity and peaceful mood shall keep,
But change to bitter brine, and madly roar
Among the breakers there, and toss and leap,
And dash the helpless bark against the shore,
And whelm the drowning seamen in the deep.