Town Repinings

River! O, river! thou rovest free,
From the mountain height to the fresh blue sea!
Free thyself, but with silver chain,
Linking each charm of land and main,
From the splinter'd crag thou leap'st below,
Through leaf}' glades at will to flow —
Lingering now, by the steep's moss'd edge —
Loitering now mid the dallying sedge:
And pausing ever, to call thy waves
From grassy meadows and fern-clad caves —
And then, with a prouder tide to break
From wooded valley, to breezy lake:
Yet all of these scenes, though fair they be,
River! O, river! are bann'd to me.
River! O, river! upon thy tide
Full many a freighted bark doth glide;
Would that thou thus couldst bear away
The thoughts that burthen my weary day!
Or that I, from all save them made free,
Though laden still, might rove with thee!
True that thy waves brief lifetime find,
And live at the will of the wanton wind —
True that thou seekest the ocean's flow,
To be lost therein for evermore.
Yet the slave who worships at Glory's shrine,
But toils for a bubble as frail as thine:
But loses his freedom here, to be
Forgotten as soon as in death set free.