Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.

Tweed, the River

The Inundation

By Walter Thornbury (1828–1876)

SAYS the Tweed to the Till,

“What makes you run so still?”

Till says to Tweed,

“Though you run with speed,

And I run slow,

Yet, where you drown one man,

I can drown two!”

Says the Till to the Tweed,

“Where shall we meet?—

By the Cross of Swinton,

Or in Berwick Street?”

Says the Tweed to the Till,

“I am deadly though slow;

For three men that cross my fords,

Two sink below.”

“The Eden will join us.

Her banks are all brimming;

And down her red waters

The Kelpies are swimming;

Deep, dark, and rushing,

The Whiteadder ’s pouring.

When we four meet again

There ’ll be a roaring!—

Women’s loud wailing,

And peasants imploring!”