RIVER! that in silence windest Through the meadows, bright and free, Til at length thy rest thou findest In the bosom of the sea! Four long years of mingled feeling, Thou hast taught me, Silent River! Oft in sadness and in illness, And in better hours and brighter, Not for this alone I love thee, Nor because thy waves of blue From celestial seas above thee Take their own celestial hue. Where yon shadowy woodlands hide thee, Friends I love have dwelt beside thee, More than this;-thy name reminds me Of three friends, all true and tried; And that name, like magic, binds me Closer, closer to thy side. Friends my soul with joy remembers! How like quivering flames they start, When I fan the living embers On the hearth-stone of my heart! 'Tis for this, thou Silent River! That my spirit leans to thee; Thou hast been a generous giver, Take this idle song from me. In happy homes he saw the light Of household fires gleam warm and bright; Above, the spectral glaciers shone, And from his lips escaped a groan, Excelsior! "Beware the pine-tree's withered branch! Beware the awful avalanche!" This was the peasant's last Good-night, At break of day, as heavenward A traveller, by the faithful hound, Still grasping in his hand of ice There in the twilight cold and gray, |