“On either side

Is level fen, a prospect wild and wide,

With dykes on either hand, by ocean self-supplied.

Far on the right the distant sea is seen,

And salt the springs that feed the marsh between;

Beneath an ancient bridge the straitened flood

Rolls through its sloping banks of slimy mud;

Near it a sunken boat resists the tide,

That frets and hurries to the opposing side;

The rushes sharp, that on the borders grow,