Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.

New England: Saco, the River, N. H. and Me.

Saco Falls

By James Thomas Fields (1817–1881)

RUSH on, bold stream! thou sendest up

Brave notes to all the woods around,

When morning beams are gathering fast,

And hushed is every human sound;

I stand beneath the sombre hill,

The stars are dim o’er fount and rill,

And still I hear thy waters play

In welcome music, far away;

Dash on, bold stream! I love the roar

Thou sendest up from rock and shore.

’T is night in heaven,—the rustling leaves

Are whispering of the coming storm,

And, thundering down the river’s bed,

I see thy lengthened, darkling form;

No voices from the vales are heard,

The winds are low, each little bird

Hath sought its quiet, rocking nest,

Folded its wings, and gone to rest:

And still I hear thy waters play

In welcome music, far away.

Oh! earth hath many a gallant show,

Of towering peak and glacier height,

But ne’er, beneath the glorious moon,

Hath nature framed a lovelier sight

Than thy fair tide with diamonds fraught,

When every drop with light is caught,

And, o’er the bridge, the village girls

Reflect below their waving curls,

While merrily thy waters play

In welcome music, far away!