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

Thames, the River

Thames

By Alexander Hume Butler

THAMES, infant Thames,

Rippling, flowing

Water-white,

Where the bright

Young wilding gems

Are blowing;

Babbling ever in unrest,

While as o’er her darling’s pillow

Bends the mother, so the willow

O’er thy breast.

Thames, maiden Thames,

Glancing, shining

Silver-blue;

While for you

The lilied stems

Are pining.

Ah! thou lovest best to play

Slily with the wanton swallow,

While he whispers thee to follow

Him away.

Thames, matron Thames,

That ebbest back

From the sea;

Oh! in thee

There are emblems

Of life’s track:

We, too, would, like thee, regain,

If we might, our greener hours;

We, too, mourn our vanished flowers,

But in vain.