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Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Born in Alloway, Scotland, on January 25, 1759, Robert Burns was the...
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FURTHER READING
Poems about Rivers
A Musical Instrument
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
In Passing
by Stanley Plumly
Man in Stream
by Rosanna Warren
Part of Eve's Discussion
by Marie Howe
Rückenfigur
by Susan Howe
South
by Jack Gilbert
Summer Night, Riverside
by Sara Teasdale
The Outlet (162)
by Emily Dickinson
Vague Cadence
by Geoffrey G. O'Brien
Written on the Banks of the Arun
by Charlotte Smith
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Afton Water  
by Robert Burns

Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes,
Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise;
My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream,
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.

Thou stock-dove whose echo resounds through the glen,
Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den,
Thou green-crested lapwing, thy screaming forbear,
I charge you disturb not my slumbering fair.

How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighboring hills,
Far marked with the courses of clear winding rills;
There daily I wander as noon rises high,
My flocks and my Mary's sweet cot in my eye.

How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below,
Where wild in the woodlands the primroses blow;
There oft as mild evening weeps over the lea,
The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me.

Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides,
And winds by the cot where my Mary resides;
How wanton thy waters her snowy feet lave,
As gathering sweet flowerets she stems thy clear wave.

Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes,
Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays;
My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream,
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dreams.



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