Smooth to the shelving brink a copious flood br Rolls fair and placid: where collected all, br In one impetuous torrent down the steep br It thundering shoots, and shakes the country round. br At first, an azure sheet, it rushes broad; br Then whitening by degrees, as prone it falls, br And from the loud-resounding rocks below, br Dash'd in a cloud of foam, it sends aloft br A hoary mist, and forms a ceaseless shower. br Nor can the tortured wave here find repose: br But, raging still amid the shaggy rocks, br Now flashes o'er the scatter'd fragments, now br Aslant the hollow channel rapid darts; br And falling fast from gradual slope to slope, br With wild infracted course, and lessen'd roar, br It gains a safer bed, and steals, at last, br Along the mazes of a quiet vale.