In the time of wild roses <br />As up Thames we travelled <br />Where 'mid water--weeds ravelled <br />The lily uncloses, <br /> <br />To his old shores the river <br />A new song was singing, <br />And young shoots were springing <br />On old roots for ever. <br /> <br />Dog--daisies were dancing, <br />And flags flamed in cluster, <br />On the dark stream a lustre <br />Now blurred and now glancing. <br /> <br />A tall reed down--weighing, <br />The sedge--warbler fluttered; <br />One sweet note he uttered, <br />Then left it soft--swaying. <br /> <br />By the bank's sandy hollow <br />My dipt oars went beating, <br />And past our bows fleeting <br />Blue--backed shone the swallow. <br /> <br />High woods, heron--haunted, <br />Rose, changed, as we rounded <br />Old hills greenly mounded, <br />To meadows enchanted; <br /> <br />A dream ever moulded <br />Afresh for our wonder, <br />Still opening asunder <br />For the stream many--folded; <br /> <br />Till sunset was rimming <br />The West with pale flushes; <br />Behind the black rushes <br />The last light was dimming; <br /> <br />And the lonely stream, hiding <br />Shy birds, grew more lonely, <br />And with us was only <br />The noise of our gliding. <br /> <br />In cloud of gray weather <br />The evening o'erdarkened. <br />In the stillness we hearkened; <br />Our hearts sang together.<br /><br />Robert Laurence Binyon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/bab-lock-hythe/
