Page:Poems and ballads (IA balladspoems00swinrich).pdf/187

 The patient fairy Of water waits; All shrunk and wizen, In iron prison, Till spring re‑risen Unbar the gates; Till, as with clamour Of axe and hammer, Chained streams that stammer And struggle in straits Burst bonds that shiver, And thaws deliver The roaring river in stormy spates.

In fierce March weather White waves break tether, And whirled together At either hand,