The Poetry Corner

Sonnets: Idea XXXII To The River Ankor

By Michael Drayton

Our floods' queen, Thames, for ships and swans is crowned, And stately Severn for her shore is praised; The crystal Trent for fords and fish renowned, And Avon's fame to Albion's cliff is raised. Carlegion Chester vaunts her holy Dee; York many wonders of her Ouse can tell; The Peak, her Dove, whose banks so fertile be; And Kent will say her Medway doth excel. Cotswold commends her Isis to the Thame; Our northern borders boast of Tweed's fair flood; Our western parts extol their Wilis' fame; And the old Lea brags of the Danish blood. Arden's sweet Ankor, let thy glory be, That fair Idea only lives by thee!