Poem by Richard Watson Gilder

The New Day. Part 3. 21. The River

I know thou art not that brown mountain-side,
⁠     Nor the pale mist that lies along the hills
⁠     And with white joy the deepening valley fills;
⁠     Nor yet the solemn river moving wide
Into that valley, where the hills abide
⁠     But whence those morning clouds on noiseless wheels
     ⁠Shall lingering lift and, as the moonlight steals
⁠     From out the heavens, so into the heavens shall glide.
I know thou art not this gray rock that looms
     ⁠Above the water, fringed with scarlet vine;
     ⁠Nor flame of burning meadow; nor the sedge
That sways and trembles at the river's edge.
⁠     But through all these, dear heart! to me there comes
⁠     Some melancholy, absent look of thine.

1. The New Day. Part 4. 2. The Mirror
2. The Celestial Passion. Part 2. 3. A Madonna of Fra Lippo Lippi
3. The New Day. Part 3. 5. “I Will Be Brave for Thee”
4. The New Day. Part 4. 16. “Love Is Not Bond to Any Man”
5. The New Day. Part 2. 1. Words without Song

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