Classic Poem

Each stream and Naiad fed on Northern snows,
O Rhine, to thee, the sire, her life blood owes;
Henceforth unfettered be thy waters fair
That no barbarian wheel shall ever dare,
When thou art bound by frost, to traverse thee;
If thou wouldst go thy way, thy banks made free,
And thou be Roman, thou must needs restore
Our Trajan to his folk and town once more.
His presence doth the royal Tiber need;
Thine overlord is he, do thou give heed!