O LIVING, living water, <br />So busy and so bright, <br />Aye flashing in the morning beams, <br />And sounding through the night; <br />O golden-shining water-- <br />Would God that I might be <br />A vocal message from His mouth <br />Into the world, like thee! <br /> <br />O merry, merry water, <br />Which nothing e'er affrays; <br />And as it pours from rock to rock <br />Nothing e'er stops or stays; <br />But past cool heathery hollows <br />And gloomy pools it flows; <br />Past crags that fain would shut it in <br />Leaps through--and on it goes. <br /> <br />O fresh'ning, sparkling water, <br />O voice that's never still, <br />Though winter lays her dead-white hand <br />On brae and glen and hill; <br />Though no leaf's left to flutter <br />In woods all mute and hoar, <br />Yet thou, O river, night and day <br />Thou runnest evermore. <br /> <br />No foul thing can pollute thee; <br />Thy swiftness casts aside <br />All ill, like a good heart and true, <br />However sorely tried. <br />O living, living water, <br />So fresh and bright and free-- <br />God lead us through this changeful world <br />Forever pure, like thee!<br /><br />Dinah Maria Mulock Craik<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/at-the-linn-side/
