And yet, as it nears where violets hide

’Neath soughing pines, its waters glide

With hardly a sound, lest the tender flower

Should feel, in its haste, too hard a shower.

But ever it sings, be it night or day,

Year after year, in the selfsame way,

“Here I tinkle, and there I dash,

I ripple, I murmur, I gaily splash;

Such a mad, such a glad little brook am I,

Singing along ’neath a summer sky!”