MAKE "THE CITY BEAUTIFUL" 19 



"From the bridge I lean'd to hear 

 The milldam rushing down with noise, 

 And see the minnows everywhere 

 In crystal eddies glance and poise, 

 The tall Flag-flowers when they sprung 

 Below the range of stepping-stones, 

 Or those three chestnuts near, that hung 

 In masses thick with milky cones." 



Tennyson: The Miller's Daughter. 



"Oh Darkling River! * * * 



The dweller by thy side, 

 Who moored his little boat upon thy beach, 

 Though all the waters that upbore it then 

 Have slid away o'er night, shall find, at morn, 

 Thy channel filled with waters freshly drawn 

 From distant cliffs, and hollows where the rill 

 Comes up amid the Water flags." 



Bryant: Night Journey of a River. 



"How graceful climb those shadows on my hill! 

 I fancy these pure waters and the Flags 

 Know me, as does my dog: we sympathize." 

 Emerson: Hamatreya. 



"All night long he sailed upon it, 

 Sailed upon that sluggish water, 

 Covered with its mould of ages, 

 Black with rotting water-rushes. 

 Rank with Flags and leaves of lilies. 

 * * * * 



Then once more Cheemaun he patted, 



To his birch canoe said 'Onward!' 



And it stirred in all its fibres, 



And with one great bound of triumph 



Leaped across the water lilies, 



Leaped through tangled Flags and rushes, 



And upon the beach before them 



Dry-shod landed Hiawatha." 



Longfellow: Hiawatha. 



"There is a woodland witch who lies 

 With bloom-bright limbs and beam-bright eyes, 

 Among the Water-flags that rank 

 The slow brook's heron-haunted bank." 



Cawein: Poet and Nature. 



