THE RIVER JORDAN.

A Poem

BY

LE

CHARLES SELBY OAKLEY.

THE RIVER JORDAN.

"Ah! wherefore gleam those upland slopes so fair?
And why, through every woodland arch

Swells yon bright vale, as Eden rich and rare,
Where Jordan winds his stately march?"

KEBLE.

As round the cradle of a King
Magnificence delights to fling
Her gifts with lavish hand,
Meet heralds of the royal state
And

power that in the future wait To lead him through his land.

So, king of rivers, round the bed
Where first thy infant streams are fed
Hath nature heaped in costly pile
Her gifts to win thy dawning smile.
How blithely from the moss-clad hill
Exultant leaps thy bursting rill!
In many a prattling ripple flowing,
With many a sparkling crystal glowing,
The very type thou seem'st to be
Of nature's joyous infancy.

See where from Hermon's snowy bank

There peeps a verdure wild and rank,

And, high above, a massive rock

Defies the powerless tempest-shock ;

From whose safe height with haughty frown.

A ruined hold looks grimly down,

Erewhile the all-defiant den

Of robber chief or Saracen.