At last a sound like murmurs from the shore Of far-off ocean, when the storm is bound, Grows on his ear, increasing more and more As he advances, till the woods resound And seem to tremble with the constant roar Of many waters--Ay, the very ground Beneath him quivers,--and, through arching trees Bright glimmering and gliding on, he sees LXVIII. The river flowing to its dizzy steep ’Twixt fringing forests, from so far as sight Can track its course, and, rushing, oversweep The rocky precipice all frothy white, With noise like thunder in its headlong leap, And springing sun-bows o’er its showery flight, And bursting into foam, tumultuous go Down the deep chasm, to smoke and boil below. LXIX. Thence, hurrying onward through the narrow bound Of banks precipitous, its torrents go, Till by the jutting cliffs half wheeling round, They pass from sight among the hills below. There paused our Father, ravished with the sound Of the wild waters, and their rapid flow, And there, alone, rejoiced that he had found Thy Falls, Pawtucket, and where Seekonk wound. LXX. And as he dallied on its margin still, His restless thought did on the future pause: Here might his children drive the busy mill, Here whirl the stones, here clash the riving saws; But little did he think the torrent’s will Would ever yield so far to human laws, As from the maid the spindle to receive And spin for her, and her fair raiment weave. LXXI. Reluctantly he left the scene, and fast Down Seekonk’s eastern bank pursued his way, Seeking for Waban’s meads; yet often cast His glances o’er the river, where the gray Primeval giants, meet for keel or mast, Stood, towering and distinct, in proud array; And wore to his presaging eyes the air Of lofty ships and stately mansions fair. LXXII. Still onward, by the eastern bank he sped; Here stretched the thicket deep, there swampy fen, Here sunk the vale, there rose the hillock’s head; Oaks crowned the mound, and cedars gloomed the glen, Where’er he moved;--at length his footsteps led Where a bright fountain, sparkling like a gem, Burst from the caverned cliff, and, glittering, wound Its copious streamlet, with a murmuring sound, LXXIII. Far down the glade; and groves of cedars green, With woven branches on the winter side, Repelled the northern storm, whilst clear and sheen, Crisped by its pebbly bed, the glancing tide Gleamed in the sun, or darkened where the screen Of boughs o’erhung its music-murmuring glide;-- It laughed along;--and its broad Southern glade Was bordered deep by woods of massy shade. LXXIV.