Dedication
To all old Friends; to all who dwell
Where Avon dhu and Avon gel
Down to the western waters flow
Through valleys dear from long ago;
To all who hear the whisper’d spell
Of Ken; and Tweed like music swell
Hard by the Land Debatable,
Or gleaming Shannon seaward go,—
To all old Friends!
To all that yet remember well
What secrets Isis had to tell,
How lazy Cherwell loiter’d slow
Sweet aisles of blossom’d May below—
Whate’er befall, whate’er befell,
To all old Friends.