South Bank Site
(With apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge) NEAR Waterloo did Herbert Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Thames, the ancient river, ran Past taverns numberless to man Down to a restless sea.
Thrice forty roods of reclaimed ground Will gates and fences girdle round ; There Halls of Industry, Art, Science will (Where blossomed bulbs from an incensed enemy) Display their wealth—if we can foot the bill By later auctioning the scenery.
But oh! that Mosque of Music to be planted Snug and four-square beneath its muting covert A handsome pile! where we may sit enchanted The while some prima donna trills—unhaunted By echoes hailing from the train to Dover. But, while the Khan is still his grants bequeathing, It may be inwardly that fears are seething— That R.D. on his cheques will be endorsed . . .
G. W. R. N.
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