Here clove the keels of centuries ago br Where now unvisited the flats lie bare. br Here seethed the sweep of journeying waters, where br No more the tumbling floods of Fundy flow, br And only in the samphire pipes creep slow br The salty currents of the sap. The air br Hums desolately with wings that seaward fare, br Over the lonely reaches beating low. br br The wastes of hard and meagre weeds are thronged br With murmurs of a past that time has wronged; br And ghosts of many an ancient memory br Dwell by the brackish pools and ditches blind, br In these low-lying pastures of the wind, br These marshes pale and meadows by the sea.