Water Walk

by john clare

For fifty paces would you not destroy Suwannee?
If
I find fifty walking men I shall not destroy this Suwannee.

For twenty paces would you spare Suwannee?
If
I find twenty walking men I shall spare the Suwannee.

For ten paces would you save Suwannee?
If
I find ten walking men I shall save the Suwannee.

For three paces would you remember Suwannee?
If
I find three walking men then I shall remember the Suwannee.

For one pace will you stay your hand upon Suwannee?
If
I find one walking man then I shall stay my hand upon Suwannee.

The darkness came
and the rains began.

The Suwannee rose
and the fifty paces were washed away.

The banks overflowed
and the twenty paces disappeared.

In hammocks deep
the snakes swam
and the three paces were not found.

Came a cry from one pace
I vanish beneath the Suwannee!

Where is the Promise to me?

In one unsunken pace
from the Okeefenokee to the Gulf of Mexico
 no trace was found
upon dry ground

but walking upon the one flow
the promise was kept.