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Home  »  Poems of Places An Anthology in 31 Volumes  »  Rivers of England

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.

Rivers of England

Rivers of England

By Alexander Pope (1688–1744)

(From Windsor Forest)

IN that blest moment from his oozy bed

Old father Thames advanced his reverend head.

His tresses dropped with dews, and o’er the stream

His shining horns diffused a golden gleam:

Graved on his urn appeared the moon, that guides

His swelling waters and alternate tides;

The figured streams in waves of silver rolled,

And on their banks Augusta rose in gold.

Around his throne the sea-born brothers stood,

Who swell with tributary urns his flood;

First the famed authors of his ancient name,

The winding Isis and the fruitful Tame:

The Kennet swift, for silver eels renowned;

The Loddon slow, with verdant alders crowned;

Cole, whose dark streams his flowery islands lave;

And chalky Wey, that rolls a milky wave:

The blue, transparent Vandalis appears;

The gulfy Lee his sedgy tresses rears;

And sullen Mole, that hides his diving flood;

And silent Darent, stained with Danish blood.