Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Still glides the stream

I think quoting Wordsworth is bound to enhance any MA Thesis on dams and hydro-politics, don't you? I bring you the following from my afternoon's work. Only "Still guides the Stream, and shall for ever glide;/The Form remains, the Function never dies" will be making an appearance in the discussion on the ecological impacts of large scale dam construction and river water management.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
Sonnets from The River Duddon: After-Thought

I thought of Thee, my partner and my guide,
As being past away.--Vain sympathies!
For, backward, Duddon! as I cast my eyes,
I see what was, and is, and will abide;
Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide;
The Form remains, the Function never dies;
While we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise,
We Men, who in our morn of youth defied
The elements, must vanish;--be it so!
Enough, if something from our hands have power
To live, and act, and serve the future hour;
And if, as toward the silent tomb we go,
Through love, through hope, and faith's transcendent dower,
We feel that we are greater than we know.

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