Merrow Down

                     part I

 1  
There runs a road by Merrow Down -
A grassy track today it is -
An hour out of Guildford Town,
Above the river Wey it is.
2  
Here, when they heard the horse-bells ring
The ancient Britons dressed and rode,
To watch the dark Phoenicians bring
Their goods along the Western Road.
3  
Yes, here, or hereabouts, they met
To hold their racial talks and such -
To barter beads for Whitby jet,
And tin for gay shell torques and such.
4  
But long and long before that time
(When bison used to roam on it)
Did Taffy and her Daddy climb
That Down, and had their home on it.
5  
Then beavers built in Broadstonebrook
And made a swamp where Bramley stands;
And bears from Shere would come and look
For Taffimai where Shamley stands.
6  
The Wey, that Taffy called Wagai,
Was more than six times bigger then;
And all the tribe of Tegumai
They cut a noble figure then!

                part II

1  
Of all the Tribe of Tegumai
Who cut that figure, none remain, -
On Merrow Down the cuckoos cry -
The silence and the sun remain.
2  
But as the faithful years return
And hearts unwounded sing again,
Comes Taffy dancing through the fern
To lead the Surrey spring again.
3  
Her brows are bound with bracken-fronds,
And golden elf-locks fly above;
Here eyes are bright as diamonds
And bluer than the sky above.
4  
In mocassins and deer-skin cloak,
Unfearing, free, and fair she flits,
And lights her little damp-wood smoke
To show her Daddy where she flits.
5  
For far - oh, very far behind,
So far she cannot call to him,
Comes Tegumai alone to find
The daughter that was all to him!

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