Poem for Thursday and Urridafoss

Spring On The River
By Archibald Lampman

O sun, shine hot on the river;
For the ice is turning an ashen hue,
And the still bright water is looking through,
And the myriad streams are greeting you
With a ballad of life to the giver,
From forest and field and sunny town,
Meeting and running and tripping down,
With laughter and song to the river.

Oh! the din on the boats by the river;
The barges are ringing while day avails,
With sound of hewing and hammering nails,
Planing and painting and swinging pails,
All day in their shrill endeavor;
For the waters brim over their wintry cup,
And the grinding ice is breaking up,
And we must away down the river.

Oh! the hum and the toil of the river;
The ridge of the rapid sprays and skips:
Loud and low by the water's lips,
Tearing the wet pines into strips,
The saw mill is moaning ever.
The little grey sparrow skips and calls
On the rocks in the rain of the water falls,
And the logs are adrift in the river.

Oh! restlessly whirls the river;
The rivulets run and the cataract drones:
The spiders are flitting over the stones:
Summer winds float and the cedar moans;
And the eddies gleam and quiver.
O sun; shine hot, shine long and abide
In the glory and power of the summer tide
On the swift longing face of the river.

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Somehow I scheduled two major appointments for Wednesday -- my annual gynecological checkup in the morning, my semiannual dentist appointment in the afternoon -- so I was mostly out running around while Paul was working from home so the washing machine repairman could come. So it was a day of not-fun (and expensive) necessities, but most of my parts and the washing machine appear to be working again, so that's all good. We even went out for ice cream in the early evening just because.

After dinner (Hungarian goulash made by Paul), we watched the season finale of Billions, in which lots of terrible people all remember they're too selfish to form meaningful alliances, followed by two of the three Blindspot episodes we'd missed, in which a couple of terrible people may be ruining the country. Here is Iceland's gorgeous Urridafoss, a waterfall that vaguely resembles the Great Falls of the Potomac until you get to the gorge and the rainbows!