Page:The poems of Richard Watson Gilder, Gilder, 1908.djvu/249

Rh A RHYME OF TYRINGHAM

in the meadow and up on the hight

The breezes are blowing the willows white.

In the elms and maples the robins call,

And the great black crow sails over all

In Tyringham, Tyringham Valley.

The river winds through the trees and the brake

And the meadow-grass like a shining snake;

And low in the summer and loud in the spring

The rapids and reaches murmur and sing

In Tyringham, Tyringham Valley.

In the shadowy pools the trout are shy,

So creep to the bank and cast the fly!

What thrills and tremors the tense cords stir

When the trout it strikes with a tug and a whir

In Tyringham, Tyringham Valley!

At dark of the day the mist spreads white,

Like a magic lake in the glimmering light;

Or the winds from the meadow the white mists blow,

And the fireflies glitter,—a sky below,—

In Tyringham, Tyringham Valley.

And O, in the windy days of the fall

The maples and elms are scarlet all,

And the world that was green is gold and red,

And with huskings and cider they 're late to bed

In Tyringham, Tyringham Valley.

Now squirrel and partridge and hawk and hare

And wildcat and woodchuck and fox beware!