1.  “How does the water
   Come down at Lodore?”
   My little boy asked me
     Thus once on a time;
   And, moreover, he tasked me
     To tell him in rhyme.

2.  Anon at the word,
   There first came one daughter,
   And then came another,
     To second and third
   The request of their brother,
   And to hear how the water
     Comes down at Lodore,
     With its rush and its roar,
       As many a time
    They had seen it before.

3.  So I told them in rhyme,
   For of rhymes I had store,
     And ’t was in my vocation
     For their recreation
   That so I should sing;
   Because I was Laureate
   To them and the King.

4.  From its sources which well
   In the tarn on the fell;
   From its fountains
   In the mountains,
Its rills and its gills;
  Through moss and through brake,
    It runs and it creeps
    For a while, till it sleeps
  In its own little lake.

5.  And thence at departing,
   Awakening and starting,
   It runs through the reeds,
   And away it proceeds,
   Through meadow and glade,
   In sun and in shade,
   And through the wood shelter,
     Among crags in its flurry,
   Helter-skelter,
     Hurry-skurry.

6.  Here it comes sparkling,
   And there it lies darkling;
   Now smoking and frothing
   Its tumult and wrath in,
   Till, in this rapid race
     On which it is bent,
   It reaches the place
     Of its steep descent.

7.  The cataract strong
   Then plunges along,
   Striking and raging
   As if a war waging
Its caverns and rocks among;

8.  Rising and leaping,
   Sinking and creeping,
   Swelling and sweeping,
   Showering and springing,
   Flying and flinging,
   Writhing and ringing,
   Eddying and whisking,
   Spouting and frisking,
   Turning and twisting,
   Around and around
   With endless rebound;
   Smiting and fighting,
   A sight to delight in;
   Confounding, astounding,
Dizzying, and deafening the ear with its sound

9.  Collecting, projecting,
  Receding and speeding,
  And shocking and rocking,
  And darting and parting,
  And threading and spreading,
  And whizzing and hissing,
  And dripping and skipping,
  And hitting and splitting,
  And shining and twining,
  And rattling and battling,
  And shaking and quaking,
  And pouring and roaring,
  And waving and raving,
  And tossing and crossing,
  And guggling and struggling,
  And heaving and cleaving,
  And moaning and groaning,
  And glittering and frittering,
  And gathering and feathering,
  And whitening and brightening,
  And quivering and shivering,
  And hurrying and skurrying,
  And thundering and floundering;

10.  Dividing and gliding and sliding,
    And falling and brawling and sprawling,
    And driving and riving and striving,
    And sprinkling and twinkling and wrinkling;