On the Mississippi

    Through wild and tangled¹ forests

    The broad， unhasting river flows

    Spotted² with rain-drops， gray with night；

    Upon its curving breast there goes

    A lonely steamboat's larboard light，

    A blood-red star against the shadowy oaks；

    Noiseless as a ghost， through greenish gleam

    Of fire-flies， before the boat's wild scream

    A heron flaps away

    Like silence taking flight.