_When first by Eden Tree,_
_The Four Great Rivers ran,_
_To each was appointed a Man_
_Her Prince and Ruler to be._
_But after this was ordained,_
_(The ancient legends tell),_
_There came dark Israel,_
_For whom no River remained._
_Then He That is Wholly Just,_
_Said to him: ‘Fling on the ground_
_A handful of yellow dust,_
_And a Fifth Great River shall run,_
_Mightier than these Four,_
_In secret the Earth around;_
_And Her secret evermore,_
_Shall be shown to thee and thy Race.’_
_So it was said and done._
_And, deep in the veins of Earth,_
_And, fed by a thousand springs_
_That comfort the market-place,_
_Or sap the power of Kings,_
_The Fifth Great River had birth,_
_Even as it was foretold—_
_The Secret River of Gold!_
_And Israel laid down_
_His sceptre and his crown,_
_To brood on that River bank,_
_Where the waters flashed and sank,_
_And burrowed in earth and fell,_
_And bided a season below;_
_For reason that none might know,_
_Save only Israel._
_He is Lord of the Last—_
_The Fifth, most wonderful, Flood._
_He hears her thunder past_
_And Her Song is in his blood._
_He can foresay: ‘She will fall,’_
_For he knows which fountain dries,_
_Behind which desert belt_
_A thousand leagues to the South._
_He can foresay: ‘She will rise.’_
_He knows what far snows melt;_
_Along what mountain wall_
_A thousand leagues to the North._
_He snuffs the coming drouth_
_As he snuffs the coming rain,_
_He knows what each will bring forth_
_And turns it to his gain._
_A Prince without a Sword,_
_A Ruler without a Throne;_
_Israel follows his quest:—_
_In every land a guest._
_Of many lands the lord._
_In no land King is he._
_But the Fifth Great River keeps_
_The secret of her deeps_
_For Israel alone,_
_As it was ordered to be._