Verdigris River.Gentle river, gentle river, Tell us where your laugh begins As you are drifting southward Through the Oklahoma land, Bedecked with the ash and maple The oak and American elm, With their branches reaching almost from bank to bank. From a little dew drop Sparkling in the sun, With multiplis of rain From the clouds above. Coursing thru the plains Down into the glenn, Born of the rainbow Is where my laugh begins. Gentle river, gentle river, In the years of sweet a-gone On thy banks we played, Children we were then, Our little tepee wigwams, Time has far removed. And erected more modern tepees, But in memory not like ours. As children and companions, I remember you quite well When we strolled together Up and down the dells. When all nature was alive With a merriness of youth, Earth was then a paradise And not a wilderness of doubt. Gentle river, gentle river, Tell us where your laugh begins As you are drifting southward Through the Oklahoma land, Bedecked with the ash and maple The oak and American elm, With their branches reaching almost from bank to bank. From a little dew drop Sparkling in the sun, With multiplis of rain From the clouds above. Coursing thru the plains Down into the glenn, Born of the rainbow Is where my laugh begins. Gentle river, gentle river, In the years of sweet a-gone On thy banks we played, Children we were then, Our little tepee wigwams, Time has far removed. And erected more modern tepees, But in memory not like ours. As children and companions, I remember you quite well When we strolled together Up and down the dells. When all nature was alive With a merriness of youth, Earth was then a paradise And not a wilderness of doubt. Gentle river, gentle river We bid a fond farewell We know you will be flowing When we are past and gone. We pray that other children Thy companionship may bear, And enjoy themselves as we did On thy banks dear Verdigris. Farewell, farewell, my comrades, When you are far away. I shall keep you in my memory, As the children of yesterday, And with each turn of springtime My course will renew As I sip the fallen dewdrops I will kiss them all for you. __J. P. Dunn. |
The Plains __ Poems in Kansas
J. P. Dunn
(Independence, Kans.: __. 1924)
Page 33-34
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