River of Life, oh! if thy waters were
As golden bright as from afar they seem
As thick with blessed islands, and as fair
As hope beholds them anchor'd in sweet dream;
If they were paved with gems of all delights
As lovers see them; I would sail with thee
Onward, for ever onward, day and night
And breathe in summer till I reach'd the sea.

Oh! I would lift my sail at break of day
And launching forward with a shout and song
Thro' shade of leaves and blossoms cleave my way,
And feast my heart with music all day long;
And when the purple and the gold of even
Flush'd the gray currents I would drop asleep
Watching with rapturous eyes the hues of Heaven
And their unnumber'd shadows in the deep.

But thy still places into whirlpools spin;
Thy free fair currents glittering in the sun
Change into shallows full of rocks within,
Or stilly into fatal cataracts run;
Thy shores lead into howling wildernesses
Thro' walks of rose, thy overshadowing bowers
Hide perilous caverns where the serpent hisses,
And dragons slumber underneath the flowers.

River of Life, lo! I have furl'd my sail
Under the twilight of these ancient trees,
I listen to the water's sleepless wail,
I fill mine ears with sighs that never cease,
If armed hearts come stronger out of Ill
The dust of conflict fills their eyes and ears;
Mine unaccustom'd heart will tremble still
With the old mirth and with the early tears.

The samphire gatherer to the cliff-face clings 
Halfway 'twixt sky and sea:
She has but youth and courage for her wings,
And always Death about her labour sings,
And fain would loosen steady hand or knee, 
And cast her down among life's broken things,
But danger shakes with fitful murmurings 
No such brave heart as she. 

The gulls are crying in her heedless ears 
That strength is made a mock 
At grips with the great sea. She has no fears, 
But treads with naked feet the stair of rock 
That has but known for years on weary years 
The touch of sea-gulls' wings, the sea that rears 
Her waves against it with recurrent shock, 
The sun that burns and sears.

She has no fears because her daily bread 
She sees made manifest 
Here in the pendulous weed that tempts her tread 
Upon so wild and dangerous a quest. 
The samphire sways and dangles overhead 
And home is far below; and in that nest 
Are little hungry mouths that must be fed, 
Though Danger be her neighbour and her guest. 

Night brings her little children to her knee 
For daily bread to pray; 
Their father tosses on the open sea, 
Where flashing shoals of silver dolphins play. 
But hungry mouths must feed while he's away, 
So the brave mother clambers day by day,
And pulls the samphire trails, and knows not she 
Is of that school of saints that wear no bay,
But do God's work the still and splendid way.