Nowhere such a devious stream, <br />Save in fancy or in dream, <br />Winding slow through bush and brake, <br />Links together lake and lake. <br /> <br />Walled with woods or sandy shelf, <br />Ever doubling on itself <br />Flows the stream, so still and slow <br />That it hardly seems to flow. <br /> <br />Never errant knight of old, <br />Lost in woodland or on wold, <br />Such a winding path pursued <br />Through the sylvan solitude. <br /> <br />Never school-boy, in his quest <br />After hazel-nut or nest, <br />Through the forest in and out <br />Wandered loitering thus about. <br /> <br />In the mirror of its tide <br />Tangled thickets on each side <br />Hang inverted, and between <br />Floating cloud or sky serene. <br /> <br />Swift or swallow on the wing <br />Seems the only living thing, <br />Or the loon, that laughs and flies <br />Down to those reflected skies. <br /> <br />Silent stream! thy Indian name <br />Unfamiliar is to fame; <br />For thou hidest here alone, <br />Well content to be unknown. <br /> <br />But thy tranquil waters teach <br />Wisdom deep as human speech, <br />Moving without haste or noise <br />In unbroken equipoise. <br /> <br />Though thou turnest no busy mill, <br />And art ever calm and still, <br />Even thy silence seems to say <br />To the traveller on his way:-- <br /> <br />'Traveller, hurrying from the heat <br />Of the city, stay thy feet! <br />Rest awhile, nor longer waste <br />Life with inconsiderate haste! <br /> <br />'Be not like a stream that brawls <br />Loud with shallow waterfalls, <br />But in quiet self-control <br />Link together soul and soul.'<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/songo-river-birds-of-passage-flight-the-fourth/
