The Silence of Love :: :: University of Virginia Library

Well may the river bless the surging flood,
That speeds it onward to its ocean grave;
Well may the heart rejoice whose torpid blood
Thrills to the impulse of love's rushing wave.
Swift let the waters flow from source to sea;
But let their time-worn channel guide them still.
Ill fares the stream, impatient to be free,
That breaks its bonds with wild rebellious will.
For this the doom of passion's impious haste,
Of lawless love that cannot brook delay,—

To find in stagnant pool or marshy waste
Not death's deliverance but death's decay;—
Lost beyond hope, lost to the sea's embrace,
Traitor to love, and exile from love's face.