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THE MOUNTAIN TORRENT. 



Down, — down — a hundred fathoms deep, 



Down that abrupt abyss. — 

 Dashing, crashing with resistless sweep, 

 The hoary vapors up the mountain creep, 



And cling to the precipice. 

 And many the eddies in the whirlpool form 



Ere I reach the jeweled lake, 

 And mingle my breath with its waters warm ; 

 The golden trout at the inlet swarm, 



Translucent and opaque. 



I nestle snug in that placid vale, — 



Nature's jeweled gem, 

 Where the sweet song of nightingale, 

 And flowing waters fill the dale, 



And the grand mountains hem. 

 With rugged cliffs and jutting spurs, 



The boulders bare and gaunt, — 

 The silvery ash and tremulous firs, 

 And lichens crowding the thistle burrs, ' 

 Is what the sleepy hollow confers, 



In my mountain haunt. 



Francis P. Owings. 



From melting snows on the mountain's crest, 



I trickle in tiny streams ; 

 And, with many a curve, I flow in quest 

 Of rivulets born in that snowy nest, 



Converging near its seams ; 

 And fledging strong as the current fills, 



With three-fold stiength, 

 In sweet echo — the hills 

 Resound to the music of lonely rills, 



Winding their sinuous length. 



Rushing swiftly in ice-paved course, 



With bold, tumultuous leaps, 

 Each snow-bound foot, from crystal source, 

 Gives impetus to the awful force. 



Past the mountain peaks. 

 'Midst vapor and spray, — I dash away 



Down the steepest gorge ; 

 With froth-crested tips in grim disarray, 

 Through canyons buried in the shadows gray, 



A rocky bed I forge. 



Over boulders bare, — leaping bold and riant, 



Through debris, windfall and fallow, 

 My tortuous curves are pebbled and pliant ; — 

 I see the gnarled roots of a forest giant, 



Uprooted near a shallow. 

 Around jagged rocks, — with ringing shocks, 



Edged with a hoary comb, 

 With a rush and crash, — I dash and splash 

 'Neath tremulous firs and mountain ash, 

 And lichens, clinging to granite blocks, 



Are flecked with crested foam. 



