Know ye not that lovely river? <br />Know ye not that smiling river? <br />Whose gentle flood, <br />By cliff and wood, <br />With wildering sound goes winding ever. <br />Oh! often yet with feeling strong, <br />On that dear stream my mem'ry ponders, <br />And still I prize its murm'ring song, <br />For by my childhood's home it wanders. <br />Know ye not that lovely river? <br />Know ye not that smiling river? <br />Whose gentle flood, <br />By cliff and wood, <br />There's music in each wind that blows <br />Within our native valley breathing; <br />There's beauty in each flower that grows <br />Around our native woodlands wreathing. <br />The memory of our brightest joys <br />Is dearer than the richest toys, <br />The present vainly shed around us. <br />Know ye not that lovely river? <br />Know ye not that smiling river? <br />Whose gentle flood, <br />By cliff and wood, <br />Oh, sister! when 'mid doubts and fears, <br />That haunt life's onward journey ever, <br />I turn to those departed years, <br />And that beloved and lovely river; <br />With sinking mind and bosom riven, <br />And heart with lonely anguish aching, <br />It needs my long-taught hope in heaven, <br />To keep that weary heart from breaking. <br />Know ye not that lovely river? <br />Know ye not that smiling river? <br />Whose gentle flood, <br />By cliff and wood.<br /><br />Gerald Griffin<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/recollections-of-our-native-valley/
