Page:The-knickerbocker-gallery-(knickerbockergal00clarrich).djvu/38

Float we the grassy banks between;
  Without an oar we glide;
The meadows, sheets of living green,
  Unroll on either side.

Come, take the book we love so well,
  And let us read and dream
We see whate'er its pages tell,
  And sail an English stream.

Up to the clouds the lark has sprung,
  Still trilling as he flies;
The linnet sings as there he sung;
  The unseen cuckoo cries:

And daisies strew the banks along,
  And yellow kingcups shine,
With cowslips, and a primrose throng,
  And humble celandine.

Ah foolish dream! when Nature nursed
  Her daughter in the West,
Europe had drained one fountain first;
  She bared her other breast.

On the young planet's orient shore
  Her morning hand she tried,
Then turned the broad medallion o'er
  And stamped the sunset side.

Take what she gives; her pine's tall stem;
  Her elm with drooping spray;
She wears her mountain diadem
  Still in her own proud way.

Look on the forest's ancient kings,
  The hemlock's towering pride;
Yon trunk had thrice a hundred rings,
  And fell before it died.