To a Young Lady
William Cowper · 1785
Public domain
From The Golden Treasury, selected by Francis Turner Palgrave. William Cowper. The text is free of copyright in the United States. This copy is the poem, without the Project Gutenberg header.
Sweet stream, that winds through yonder glade,
Apt emblem of a virtuous maid--
Silent and chaste she steals along,
Far from the world's gay busy throng:
With gentle yet prevailing force,
Intent upon her destined course;
Graceful and useful all she does,
Blessing and blest where'er she goes;
Pure-bosom'd as that watery glass,
And Heaven reflected in her face.