Songs of the Spavinaw

University of Oklahoma Magazine 8 (February 1, 1920):4.

By Ruth Margaret Muskrat

I am the river of Spavinaw,[1]

I am the river of pain;

Sadness and gladness must answer my law;

Measure for measure I give, and withdraw

Back through the hills of the Spavinaw

Hiding away from the plain.

I am the river of Spavinaw;

I sing the songs of the world;

Dashing and whirling, swishing and swirling,

Delicate, mystical, silvery spray hurling,

Sing I the songs of the world,

The passionate songs of the world.

I sing of laughter and mirth,

And I laugh in a gurgle of glee

As the myriad joys of the earth

Trip through the light with me.

Gays shallows dimple, sparkle and ripple.

Like songs that a lover would sing,

Skipping in moonlight,

Tripping in moonlight,

Whispering echoes of spring.

And again

I move with the slow sadness of pain.

In my dark blue deep, where the shadows creep,

I catch up life's sorrows and mirror them back again.

And my song is a throbbing, pitiful sobbing,

Choked by an agonized pain.

And then

I move forth toward the beckoning north,

And I sing of the power of men.

As I dash down my falls,

As I beat at my walls

Frantically fighting, running and righting,

All through the flood, through the snarling and biting,

I sing of the power of men,

Of the hurry and power of men.

I am the river of Spavinaw,

I am the river of pain;

Sadness and gladness must answer my law;

Measure for measure I give, and withdraw

Back through the hills of the Spavinaw,

Hiding away from the plain.