Ah! some would have risked there the watery grave
If assured that their sweethearts by that they could save;
The occasion, the time, and the motive were there,
Had they only known how, they were ready to dare.
While the daring was there, still the river was wide,
And an effort to rescue seemed useless if tried;
So they talked and they planned with their heads close together;
They looked at the river and also the weather,
And the lovers were gathered real close to each other—
For the loud-roaring river their voices would smother—