By the Water

There are rivers lapsing down
Lily-laden to the sea:
Every lily is a boat
For bees, one, two, or three:
I wish there were a fairy boat
For you, my friend, and me.

And if there were a fairy boat
And if the river bore us,
We should not care for all the past
Nor all that lies before us,
Not for the hopes that buoyed us once
Not for the fears that tore us.

We would rock upon the river
Scarcely floating by,
Rocking, rocking like the lilies,
You, my friend, and I:
Rocking like the stately lilies
Beneath the statelier sky.

But ah where is that river
Whose hyacinth banks descend
Down to the sweeter lilies
Till soft their shadows blend
Into a watery twilight?—
And ah where is my friend?