Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79. | | | | Thames, the River | | The Thames | | Alexander Pope (1688–1744) |
| | (From Windsor Forest)
THOU too, great father of the British floods! | |
| With joyful pride survey’st our lofty woods; | |
| Where towering oaks their growing honors rear, | |
| And future navies on thy shores appear. | |
| Not Neptune’s self from all her streams receives | 5 |
| A wealthier tribute than to thine he gives. | |
| No seas so rich, so gay no banks appear, | |
| No lake so gentle, and no spring so clear. | |
| Nor Po so swells the fabling poet’s lays, | |
| While led along the skies his current strays, | 10 |
| As thine, which visits Windsor’s famed abodes, | |
| To grace the mansion of our earthly gods: | |
| Nor all his stars above a lustre show, | |
| Like the bright beauties on thy banks below; | |
| Where Jove, subdued by mortal passion still, | 15 |
| Might change Olympus for a nobler hill. | | | | |
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