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On The Rocky River

Edward S. Sorenson

Oh, she was fair and twenty
   Nigh nude as babes are born,
And streamed her auburn tresses
   Out to the golden morn;
A-straddle on a cedar,
   I saw her bending low,
Upon the Rocky River—
   In flood-time long ago.

I sprang into the current
   And quickly gained the craft;
With lifted oar she threatened,
   And bade me dangle aft;
Vain wight who swam to save her
   She merely took in tow
A-down the Rocky River—
   In flood-time long ago.

In mid-stream out careering
   And whirling round went we;
In vain I pleaded crampings—
   As adamant was she.
“And if you dare to board me,
   I’ll send you down below!”
She said on Rocky River—
   In flood-time long ago.

Whilst sweeping round and under
   A stout limb bending o’er,
She caught it like a monkey
   And swung herself to shore.
A humble wight and wiser
   That cedar took in tow,
Alone down Rocky River—
   In flood-time long ago.

She hates me now like poison,
   And oft I wonder why—
Who dreamed not Love’s requital
   My fair one would deny
I’m branded “brute” and “coward,”
   And only this I know;
We met on Rocky River—
   In flood-time long ago.

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