Trails of hands carry the rivers to the Sea.²
The river takes the land—and leaves Nothing.³
All Rivers run into the Sea, yet the sea is not full—
Unto the place from whence the rivers come,
Thither they Return again.⁴
Hearken, Hearken! The rapid river carrieth
Many noises underneath the hoary Ocean:
Teaching its solemnity—sounds of inland Life & Glee!⁵
The river: a descending scale of quiet—Terrestrial …⁶
“You live by the River?”—
“By it and with it and on it and in it.”⁷
We bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young—
We built our hut near the Congo and it lulled us to sleep—
We looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above us!⁸
Above all ryvers—
Our Ryver hath Renowne!⁹
Have we got a Brook in our little heart—
Where bashful flowers blow?¹⁰
¹ Wallace Stevens, The River of Rivers in Connecticut
² Danez Smith, Acknowledgements
³ Wendell Berry, The Slip
⁴ Ecclesiastes 1.7 (King James)
⁵ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sounds
⁶ Joanna Klink, Night on Land
⁷ Kenneth Graham, The Wind in the Willows
⁸ Langston Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers
⁹ William Dunbar, In Honour of the City of London
¹⁰ Emily Dickinson, Have You Got a Brook