Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Africa: Vol. XXIV. 1876–79.
A Travellers Impression on the Nile
By Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton (18091885)W
On such a noble river’s breast,
And learnt its face in every weather,
And loved its motions and its rest,—
To check your course and turn your prow,
And objects for themselves retrace
You past with added hope just now.
And all the bars that reason plants
Now disappointed fancy reckons
As foolish fears or selfish wants.
Seem but temptations which the stream
Holds out to energetic souls,
That worthy of its love may seem.
One more or less,—the forward track
May often give you what you need not,
While wisdom waits on turning back.