Classic Poem

Father of Rivers! standing by thy side,
Life's turbid eddies seem but little worth,
As Fancy traces thy all-conquering tide
To the far-distant regions of the North,
And marks how calm and pure its waters glide,
Till on their course Missouri rushes forth,
Like the Barbarian on his Roman prey,
Leaving behind the stain Time never wears away!

Beltrami, when with peril, toil, and pain
He trod the wilderness to seek thy spring,
And fondly deemed he had the fate to gain,
As he beheld thy new-born streamlet fling
Its drops in bubbles forth like falling rain,
Thought his a triumph worthy of a king,
Himself the Bruce of this the Western Nile: —
At travellers' vanity how woodsmen smile!

At thy true sources the red Indian drank,
Ay, and the weary hunter quenched his thirst,
Nor paused the Naiad of the fount to thank,
Nor thought what giant stream might there be nurst,
Cradled upon its green and mossy bank,
Till from their bed the swelling sources burst,
And to earth's mightiest river gathering, flow
To greet noon's sun above, — the Mexic gulf below!

Thy borders forests and thy stream an ocean,
Dark — fathomless — a torrent in its course;
Whirling and boiling, ceaseless in commotion,
And its own banks corroding by its force;
Image of those who live by deep emotion, —
Victims of love, hope, anger, fear, remorse,
And all the fearful passions that consume
Man's heart between the cradle and the tomb.

Foul are the tenants of thy waters, — all
Amphibious beasts or hideous fish of prey;
And art and nature's perils are not small,
That threat the snorting steam-barb on his way:
Yet whoso tastes thy tide will oft recall
The sweetness of that draught some sultry day,
Till the incredulous untravelled sneer,
And ask you if the stream is always clear?

Yet thou too hast thy spots of vernal green,
And leagues of villages thy banks to grace;
Where fields of cane, with orange-groves between
Embosoming white villas, interlace,
Making a bright and happy sylvan scene,
Viewed by its very serfs with laughing face,
The home of hospitality and ease,
Where all alike are pleased, and seek to please.