BE the proud Thames of trade the busy mart! <br />Arun! to thee will other praise belong; <br />Dear to the lover's and the mourner's heart, <br />And ever sacred to the sons of song! <br />Thy banks romantic hopeless Love shall seek, <br />Where o'er the rocks the mantling bindwith flaunts; <br />And Sorrow's drooping form and faded cheek <br />Choose on thy willow'd shore her lonely haunts. <br />Banks, which inspired thy Otway's plaintive strain! <br />Wilds,--whose lorn echoes learned the deeper tone <br />Of Collins' powerful shell! yet once again <br />Another poet--Hayley is thine own! <br />Thy classic stream anew shall hear a lay, <br />Bright as its waves, and various as its way.<br /><br />Charlotte Smith<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-xxx-to-the-river-arun/
