Classic Poem

O sweet, sad, singing river,
Why dost thou chime forever
In answer to my weary heart's unrest?
Wilt thou not be confiding,
Or is thy music hiding
Some sorrow that can never be confessed?

O melancholy river,
Why do thy young leaves quiver
So plaintively along thy silent shore?
Are they some bird lamenting,
That for a while consenting
To warble to them, now far off would soar?

O sweet, sad, singing river,
My heart cannot dissever
Itself from tender hopes that round it cling.
O lily-crownèd river,
Love, though discrowned forever,
Wears lilies the enchanted Past will bring.