SAND DUNES AND SALT MARSHES 



Imagination refuses even to consider the con- 

 dition of the human race at this remote 

 period! 



Ye marshes that the restless sea doth lave, 

 Ye emblems of the constancy of time, 

 Th' eternal hills do sink beneath the wave 

 Yet ever on and upward do ye climb. 



In summer's balmy days how fair to view! — 

 The waving thatch where water bathes its feet, 

 The short grass glistening with the morning dew, 

 The darkening fringe where marsh and upland meet. 



In autumn's sparkling days the samphire glows, 

 The shore birds wheel, the sea gulls soar and shriek, 

 In winter Boreas spreads his icy floes, 

 And crows and ducks their scanty rations seek. 



O marshes, purge our minds from carking woe. 

 Teach us to see and love thy visions fair. 

 And with thy help may love and beauty grow — 

 For love and beauty may we ever care! 



228 



