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By T. E. Oertel, Augusta, Georgia. 



O fair Savannah, Daughter of the hills, 



From out whose ample breasts a thousand rills 



Leap into being and lift up a song 



Of limpid music as they flow along ; 



Cradled by banks embossed with starry flowers, 



And guarded by great oaks whose fragrant bowers 



Temper the sun's hot rays ; where stately pines, 



Austere and crowned with wild muscadines, 



Spread their Aeolian harps to woo the wind, 



The crystal waters hurry on to bind 



Themselves in sweet communion and to be 



Parcel and part of thy divinity. 



Immeasurably old, yet young forever more, 

 You fret the margins of the enduring shore 

 Into new patterns of fair tracery, or throw 

 Garlands of foam upon the sands below 

 The rocks that stubbornly impede thy path, 

 ^Wrought more in playfulness than in thy wrath ; 

 You may not loiter long upon the way, 

 Your destiny supreme you must obey ; 

 One great compelling purpose doth control 

 Your onward movement like a mighty soul ; 

 To escape the restraining shore, to be set free, 

 And merge into the everlasting sea. 



Servant thou art to things both small and great, 

 The very dews of heaven that consecrate 

 The fertile fields and woods of thy domain 

 Are of thy flood ; the sun doth not disdain 

 To mate with thee, each flying cloud doth prove 

 The constancy of his desire and love. 

 Far from his northern home upon thy breast 

 The pied loon sinks his weary wing to rest. 

 The lordly cypress rears his head on high, 

 Fit monument unto thy ministry. 

 Resplendent reed and plum'ed grasses bless 

 Thy banks with ever-verdant loveliness. 



Bearer of burdens, thou ! The fairy boat 

 Of brier rosebud on thy tide doth float, 

 As light as thistledown upon the wind. 

 No more to thee the bulk of ships that bind 

 The capitals and marts of every land, 

 And weave a fabric with a magic strand, 

 At man's behest, obedient to his will, 

 You humbly turn the spindles of the mill, 

 Or with the power of a giant hand, 

 Subdue the thunderbolt to his command. 

 In thee beneficence and strength do blend, 

 All hail ! Life-giver! Benefactor! Friend! 





