Troublesome Creek is a highway wandering more than natural
For a passage going somewhere and arriving at certainty;
A road aims at straight lines, though accepts a curve or two
And a rise and fall to make a scheme and nature agree;
A creek pays less mind to man than to geography.

It would take a lot of rain to span the banks of Troublesome
And fill them up and start a respectable flowing,
And waken the rushes and dampen the hair of the mosses,
Liven the springs and start the draws a-roaring;
It would take a master rain to set the creek road going.