The Salt Flats
The Salt Flats
Original Text
Selected Poems of Sir Charles G. D. Roberts (Toronto: Ryerson, 1936): 101. PS 8485 O22A17 Robarts Library.
1Here clove the keels of centuries ago
2 Where now unvisited the flats lie bare.
3 Here seethed the sweep of journeying waters, where
6 The salty currents of the sap. The air
7 Hums desolately with wings that seaward fare,
8Over the lonely reaches beating low.
9The wastes of hard and meagre weeds are thronged
10With murmurs of a past that time has wronged;
11 And ghosts of many an ancient memory
12Dwell by the brackish pools and ditches blind,
13In these low-lying pastures of the wind,
14 These marshes pale and meadows by the sea.
Notes
4] Fundy: the Bay of Fundy, south off New Brunswick, has exceptionally high tides. Back to Line
5] samphire: edible seashore plant. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1891
Publication Notes
The Independent (March 19, 1891).
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.
Rhyme
Form