"The Meeting of the Waters" (1807)
Irish Melody
Written by Thomas Moore
[Source: 038/138@Levy]

* "The Meeting of the Waters" forms a part of that beautiful 
scenery which lies between Rathdrum and Arklow, in the Count 
of Wicklow, and these lines were suggested by a visit to this 
romantic spot, in the summer of the year 1807.
+ The Rivers Avon and Ovoca.
Tmo

1. There is not in the wide world a Valley so sweet,
As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet;
Oh! the last rays of summer shall fade from my heart,
Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from that heart.

2. Yet it was not that nature  had shed o’er the scene,
Her purest of crystal and brightest of green;
’Twas not the soft magic of streamlet or hill,
Oh! no— it was something more exquisite still.

3. ’Twas that friends, the belov’d of my bosom, were near,
Who made every dear scene of enchantment more dear,
And who felt how the blest charms of nature improve,
When we see them reflected from looks that we love.

4. Sweet vale of Ovoca! how calm could I rest
In thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best,
Where the storms which we feel in this cold world should cease,
And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace.