Little brown surf-bather of the mountains! <br />Spirit of foam, lover of cataracts, shaking your wings in falling waters! <br />Have you no fear of the roar and rush when Nevada plunges -- <br />Nevada, the shapely dancer, feeling her way with slim white fingers? <br />How dare you dash at Yosemite the mighty -- <br />Tall, white limbed Yosemite, leaping down, down over the cliff? <br />Is it not enough to lean on the blue air of mountains? <br />Is it not enough to rest with your mate at timberline, in bushes that hug <br /> the rocks? <br />Must you fly through mad waters where the heaped-up granite breaks them? <br />Must you batter your wings in the torrent? <br />Must you plunge for life and death through the foam?<br /><br />Harriet Monroe<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-water-ouzel/
