Duncan Campbell Scott

The River Town

    There’s a town where shadows run
      In the sparkle and the blue,
    By the river and the sun
      Swept and flooded thro’ and thro’.

    There the sailor trolls a song,
      There the sea-gull dips her wing,
    There the wind is clear and strong,
      There the waters break and swing.

    But at night with leaden sweep
      Come the clouds along the flood,
    Lifting in the vaulted deep
      Pinions of a giant brood.

    Charging by the slip, the whole
      River rushes black and sheer,
    There the great fish heave and roll
      In the gloom beyond the pier.

    All the lonely hollow town
      Towers above the windy quay,
    And the ancient tide goes down
      With its secret to the sea.