Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea,
      Thy tribute wave deliver:
No more by thee my steps shall be,
      For ever and for ever.

Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea,
      A rivulet then a river:
Nowhere by thee my steps shall be
      For ever and for ever.

But here will sigh thine alder tree
      And here thine aspen shiver;
And here by thee will hum the bee,
      For ever and for ever.

A thousand suns will stream on thee,
      A thousand moons will quiver;
But not by thee my steps shall be,
      For ever and for ever.