Mississippi River

"Majestic stream! along thy banks, In silent, stately, solemn ranks, The forests stand, and seem with pride To gaze upon thy mighty tide."

"Monarch of Rivers in the wide domain Where Freedom writes her signature in stars, And bids her eagle bear the blazing scroll, To usher in the reign of peace and love, Thou mighty Mississippi!"

"O grandly flowing river! O silver-gliding river! Thy springing willows shiver In the sunset as of old... O gay, oblivious river! O sunset-kindled river! Do you remember ever The eyes and skies so blue... O stern impassive river! O still unanswering river! The shivering willows quiver As the night-winds moan and rave."

"I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset."

"And the Mississippi, an inland main, With its orange-groves and its fields of cane.Sweet, round the tawny river’s mouth, Blew the rare odors of the South."

"The Mississippi of the North! bright stream On whose fair bosom first of all their race, Marquette and Joliet float, and fondly dream Of empires new and heathen brought to grace. How pride and wonder lighted up each face While down the stream the brave explorers sped, Marking the devious windings as they trace The noble river’s wood-environed bed To where Missouri’s waves the gentle waters wed. * * * * * Untamed and restless river! in thy bed, From Cape Girardeau to the delta’s verge, Vibrating waywardly; thy wild waves fed With spoil of shores down-fallen in the surge, And floating forests, which thy waters urge In endless drift into the distant sea, Where thou and all thy hundred confluents merge; In thy long reaching flow still shalt thou be From man’s restraining masonry forever free!"