Dinah Maria Craik

At the Linn-Side, Roslin

O LIVING, living water,
    So busy and so bright,
Aye flashing in the morning beams,
    And sounding through the night;
O, golden-shining water,—
    Would God that I might be
A vocal message from his mouth
    Into the world, like thee!

O merry, merry water,
    Which nothing e’er affrays;	
And as it pours from rock to rock
    Nothing e’er stops or stays;
But past cool heathery hollows
    And gloomy pools it flows;
Past crags that fain would shut it in
    Leaps through,—and on it goes.

O fresh’ning, sparkling water,
    O voice that ’s never still,
Though winter lays her dead-white hand
    On brae and glen and hill;
Though no leaf ’s left to flutter
    In woods all mute and hoar,
Yet thou, O river, night and day
    Thou runnest evermore.

No foul thing can pollute thee;
    Thy swiftness casts aside
All ill, like a good heart and true,
    However sorely tried.
O living, living water,
    So fresh and bright and free,—
God lead us through this changeful world
    Forever pure, like thee!