English poem
Sonnet XXX (BE the proud Thames of trade…)
by Charlotte Smith (1749–1806)
BE the proud Thames of trade the busy mart! Arun! to thee will other praise belong; Dear to the lover's and the mourner's heart, And ever sacred to the sons of song!
Thy banks romantic hopeless Love shall seek, Where o'er the rocks the mantling bindwith flaunts; And Sorrow's drooping form and faded cheek Choose on thy willow'd shore her lonely haunts!
Banks! which inspired thy Otway's plaintive strain! Wilds!—whose lorn echoes learn'd the deeper tone Of Collins' powerful shell! yet once again Another poet—Hayley is thine own! Thy classic stream anew shall hear a lay, Bright as its waves, and various as its way!
More by Charlotte Smith
- Sonnet XXV (WHY should I wish to hold…)
- Sonnet XXVI (ON thy wild banks, by frequent…)
- Sonnet XXVII (SIGHING I see yon little troop…)
- Sonnet XXVIII (O THOU! whose name too often…)
- Sonnet XXXI (SPRING's dewy hand on this fair…)
- Sonnet XXXII (WHEN latest Autumn spreads her evening…)
- Sonnet XXXIII (GO, rural Naiad! wind thy stream…)
- Sonnet XXXIV (CHARM'D by thy suffrage, shall I…)