The Tory: Perspectives And Poems: Dr Pratt Datta

The River's Tale Prehistoric   Twenty bridges from Tower to Kew-- (Twenty bridges or twenty-two)-- Wanted to know what the River knew, For they were young and the Thames was old, And this is the tale that the River told:--   "I WALK my beat before London Town, Five hour up and seven down. Up I go till I end my run At Tide-end-town, which is Teddington. Down I come with the mud in my hands And plaster it over the Maplin Sands. But I'd have you know that these waters of mine Were once a branch of the River Rhine, When hundreds of miles to the East I went And England was joined to the Continent.   "I remember the bat-winged lizard-birds, The Age of Ice and the mammoth herds, And the giant tigers that stalked them down Through Regent's Park into Camden Town. And I remember like yesterday The earliest Cockney who came my way, When he pushed through the forest that lined the Strand, With paint on his face and a club in his hand. He was death to feather and fin and fur. He trapped my beavers at Westminster. He