THE SEASONS PASSED AND YEARS GREW

With summer heat and winter cold,

Changed the river's nightly cadence,

As seasons passed and years grew old

In the valley of the Tunxis.

With the changing of the seasons,

Changed the river's nightly cadence.

In the sumlmer and the autumn,

Quiet was the Tunxis River,

Just a murmur of the waters

As they wandered ever southward

Through the sultry shadows flowing,

Making music in the night time

For the people of the village.

In the cold and dreary winters,

Flowing in its ice-bound channel,

Hardly was the river's murmur

Heard within the little village;

Yet the sleepers oft were startled,

When the northern lights were shining,

In the cold and frosty night-time,

By the sudden cracking, snapping,

Of the ice along the river,

Breaking thus the star-lit silence

Of the river and the village.

When the air of spring grew warmer,

Black and low the storm clouds gathered,

Driven by the east wind's power,

Swept across the darkened sky-ways,

Pouring rain upon the valley,

‘ Till the river, slowly swelling,

Moaning‘ neath its heavy bondage,

Burst its hard and icy fetters.

Raced the swirling billows foaming,

Sweeping southward through the forest.;

Tossing logs and jagged ice-cakes,

With a mighty roar of waters,

Crashing on the rocks and boulders,

Tossing spray across the hill-side,

‘ Till the people of the village

Trembled at the river's power,

Fearing for their habitations.