 | Vigil and vision |  |
TWO RIVERS.
1. NILUS.
MOTHER of waters, how shalt thou abideMan's inquest? Calm, unfathomable, broad,
Thou wanderest from the solitudes untrod,
A half-world measuring with majestic tide,
Whose march nor day nor night hath e'er awried,
Whilst, nation after nation, at Fate's nod,
Hath past and God succeeded unto God
And aeon after aeon risen and died.
Laden with immemorial memories,
Mysterious, mute, with fertilising hands,
That scatter benison upon the lands
And clothe the wastes with harvests and with trees,
Thou lapsest through the immeasurable sands,
To lose thyself in the eternal seas.
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2. THAMESIS.
HOW shall I do thee honour, homely Thames,That, on thy silent breast of sober brown,
Unto the mid-heart of the teeming town
The world's wealth bring'st, in many a fleet that stems
Thy waters, garnering in thy garment's hems
The treasures of the East and West, laid down
Our England's brows to circle with a crown
Of harvests more of price than gold and gems?
Thou art not fair, save to the spirit's eyes;
Yet, in thy constancy of duty done
And undespairing labour, reckoning none
That makes of frowning or of smiling skies,
For me a spiritual beauty lies,
That is beyond the lapse of stars and sun.
| Vigil and vision | |