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THE MISSISSIPPI.
Down from nameless regions rolling, restless, thrice a thousand miles;
Past Oho, loveliest river, all its banks aflush with rose,
While the red-bud tints the woodlands and the lavish laurel blows;
By the belts of odorous cedar, through the cypress-swamps below,
Till he greets its wider grandeur, knows the secret of its flow;
Fainting then from summer fervors, homeward turns in sacred awe,
Dying humbly with his Hurons by their windswept Mackinaw.
Past Oho, loveliest river, all its banks aflush with rose,
While the red-bud tints the woodlands and the lavish laurel blows;
By the belts of odorous cedar, through the cypress-swamps below,
Till he greets its wider grandeur, knows the secret of its flow;
Fainting then from summer fervors, homeward turns in sacred awe,
Dying humbly with his Hurons by their windswept Mackinaw.
Then La Salle, impatient, fearless, took the Father's idle oar,
Longing for the larger splendor, listening for the ocean roar!
Under Bluffs that seek the beauty of the upper shores to win;
Past the Arkansas, slow-drifting with its mountain tribute in;
By the bend where sad De Soto, with his high Castilian pride,
Lulled forever and lamented, sleeps, a king, beneath the tide;
Through the forests, perfume -haunted, weird moss waving to and fro,—
There the cottonwood towers stately, and the tall magnolias blow,—
Longing for the larger splendor, listening for the ocean roar!
Under Bluffs that seek the beauty of the upper shores to win;
Past the Arkansas, slow-drifting with its mountain tribute in;
By the bend where sad De Soto, with his high Castilian pride,
Lulled forever and lamented, sleeps, a king, beneath the tide;
Through the forests, perfume -haunted, weird moss waving to and fro,—
There the cottonwood towers stately, and the tall magnolias blow,—
