River! that in silence windest <br /> Through the meadows, bright and free, <br />Till at length thy rest thou findest <br /> In the bosom of the sea! <br /> <br />Four long years of mingled feeling, <br /> Half in rest, and half in strife, <br />I have seen thy waters stealing <br /> Onward, like the stream of life. <br /> <br />Thou hast taught me, Silent River! <br /> Many a lesson, deep and long; <br />Thou hast been a generous giver; <br /> I can give thee but a song. <br /> <br />Oft in sadness and in illness, <br /> I have watched thy current glide, <br />Till the beauty of its stillness <br /> Overflowed me, like a tide. <br /> <br />And in better hours and brighter, <br /> When I saw thy waters gleam, <br />I have felt my heart beat lighter, <br /> And leap onward with thy stream. <br /> <br />Not for this alone I love thee, <br /> Nor because thy waves of blue <br />From celestial seas above thee <br /> Take their own celestial hue. <br /> <br />Where yon shadowy woodlands hide thee, <br /> And thy waters disappear, <br />Friends I love have dwelt beside thee, <br /> And have made thy margin dear. <br /> <br />More than this;--thy name reminds me <br /> Of three friends, all true and tried; <br />And that name, like magic, binds me <br /> Closer, closer to thy side. <br /> <br />Friends my soul with joy remembers! <br /> How like quivering flames they start, <br />When I fan the living embers <br /> On the hearth-stone of my heart! <br /> <br />'T is for this, thou Silent River! <br /> That my spirit leans to thee; <br />Thou hast been a generous giver, <br /> Take this idle song from me.<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-the-river-charles/
