Choriambic Melody

Bear me afar o'er the wave, far to the sacred islands,
Where ever bright blossoms the plain, where no
cloud hangs on the highlands —
There be my heart ever at rest, stirr'd by no wild emotion:
There on the earth only repose, halcyon calm on the ocean.

Lay me along, pillow'd on flowers, where steals in silence for ever
Over its sands, still as at noon, far the oblivious river.
Scarce through the grass whispers it by; deep in
its wave you may number
Pebble and shell, and image of flower, folded and bent in slumber.

Spirit of life! rather aloft, where on the crest of the mountain,
Clear blow the winds, fresh from the north, sparkles
and dashes the fountain,
Lead me along, hot in the chase, still 'mid the storm high glowing —
Only we live — only, when life, like the wild torrent, is flowing.