Patty

Ye swampy falls of pasture ground,
And rushy spreading greens;
Ye rising swells in brambles bound,
And freedom’s wilder’d scenes;
I’ve trod ye oft, and love ye dear,
And kind was fate to let me;
On you I found my all, for here
’Twas first my Patty met me.

Flow on, thou gently plashing stream,
O’er weed-beds wild and rank;
Delighted I’ve enjoy’d my dream
Upon thy mossy bank:
Bemoistening many a weedy stem,
I’ve watched thee wind so clearly;
And on thy bank I found the gem
That makes me love thee dearly.

Thou wilderness, so rudely gay;
Oft as I seek thy plain,
Oft as I wend my steps away,
And meet my joys again,
And brush the weaving branches by
Of briars and thorns so matty;
So oft Reflection warms a sigh,—
Here first I meet my Patty.