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

Cherwell, the River

To the River Cherwell, Oxford

By William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850)

CHERWELL! how pleased along thy willowed hedge

Erewhile I strayed, or when the morn began

To tinge the distant turret’s gleamy fan,

Or evening glimmered o’er the sighing sedge!

And now reposing on thy banks once more,

I bid the pipe farewell, and that sad lay

Whose music on my melancholy way

I wooed: amid thy waving willows hoar

Seeking awhile to rest,—till the bright sun

Of joy return, as when Heaven’s beauteous bow

Beams on the night-storm’s passing wings below:

Whate’er betide, yet something have I won

Of solace, that may bear me on serene,

Till Eve’s last hush shall close the silent scene.