POETRY.
A RIDDLE OF THE THAMES. L T w:ndows that from Westminster L mk southward to the Lollard's Tower, She sat, my lovely friend. A blur 0? gilded mist,—('twas morn's first hour),— Made vague the world ; and in the gleam hivered the half-awakened stream.
Through tinted vapour looming large, Ambiguous shapes obscurely rode. She gaz ed where many a laden barge Like some dim-moving saurian showed. And 'midst them, lo two swans appeared, And proudly up the river steered. Two stately swans ! What did they there ?
Whence came they ? Whither would they go F. Think of them,—things so faultless-fair,- 'Mid the black shipping down below !
On through the rose and gold they passed, And melted in the morn at last.
Al), can it be, that they had come, Where Thames in sullied glory flows,.
Fugitive rebels, tired of some Secluded lake's ornate repose, Eager to taste the life that pours Its muddier wave 'twixt mightier shores F We ne'er shall know. Our wonderment No barren certitude shall mar. They left behind them, as they went, A dream than knowledge ampler far ;• And from our world they sailed away
Into some visionary day. WILLIAM WATSON'.
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