THE CREEK

I chatter, chatter, as I flow

To join the brimming river;

For men may come and men may go

But I go on forever.

 

I wind about, and in and out,

With here a blossom sailing,

And here and there a lusty trout,

And here and there, a grayling.

 

And here and there a foamy flake

Upon me, as I travel

With many a silvery water-break

Above the golden gravel.

 

And draw them all along, and flow

To join the brimming river;

For men may come and men may go,

But I go on forever.

 

I steal by lawns and grassy plots

I slide by hazel covers;

I move the sweet forget me nots

That grow for happy lovers.

 

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,

Among my skimming swallows;

I make the netted sunbeams dance

Against my sandy shallows.

 

I murmur under moon and stars

In brambly wildernesses;

I linger by my shingly bars,

 I loiter round my cresses;

 

And out again I curve and flow

To join the brimming river;

For men may come and men may go,

But I go on forever.

 

(author unknown)