River Rhymes

1.     We have poled our staunch canoe     Many a boiling torrent through;     Paddling where the eddies drew,     Athwart the roaring flood we flew. Chorus     Dip your paddles! make them leap,     Where the clear cold waters sweep.     Dip your paddles! steady keep,     Where breaks the rapid down the steep. 2.     Where the wind, like censer, flings     Smoke-spray wider as it swings,     Hark! the aisle of rainbow rings     To falls that hymn the King of kings. 3.     Lifting there our vessel tight,     Climbed we bank and rocky height,     Bore her through thick woods, where light     Fell dappling those green haunts of Night. 4.     O'er the rush of billows hurled,     Where they tossed and leaped and curled,     Past each wave-worn boulder whirled,     How fast we sailed, no sail unfurled! 5.     Laughs from parted lips and teeth     Hailed the quiet reach beneath,     Damascened in ferny sheath,     And girt with pine and maple wreath. 6.     Oh, the lovely river there     Made all Nature yet more fair;     Wooded hills and azure air     Kissed, quivering, in the stream they share. 7.     Plunged the salmon, waging feud     'Gainst the jewelled insect-brood;     From aerial solitude     An eagle's shadow crossed the wood. 8.     Flapped the heron, and the grey     Halcyon talked from cedar's spray,     Drummed the partridge far away;--     Ah! could we choose to live as they!