St. James’ Grove + 

And so it came to that last day + 

When, she leading by the hand, we went out + 

Early in the morning, I heavy of heart + 

For I knew the novitiate was ended + 

The ecstasy was over, the life begun. + 

In my woolen shirt and the pale blue necktie + 

My grandmother gave me, there I went + 

With the old queen right past the houses + 

Of my friends down the hill to the river + 

As on any usual day, any errand. + 

Alone, walking under trees, + 

I went with her, she with me in her wild hair, + 

By Santiago Grove and presently + 

She bent forward and knelt by the river, + 

The Passaic, that filthy river. + 

And there dabbling her mad hands, + 

She called me close beside her. + 

Raising the water then in the cupped palm + 

She bathed our brows wailing and laughing: + 

“River, we are old, you and I, + 

We are old and by bad luck, beggars. + 

Lo, the filth in our hair, our bodies stink! + 

Old friend, here I have brought you + 

The young soul you long asked of me. + 

Stand forth, river, and give me + 

The old friend of my revels! + 

Give me the well-worn spirit, + 

For here I have made a room for it, + 

And I will return to you forthwith + 

The youth you have long asked of me: + 

Stand forth, river, and give me + 

The old friend of my revels!” + 

And the filthy Passaic consented! + 

Then she, leaping up with a fierce cry: + 

“Enter, youth, into this bulk! + 

Enter, river, into this young man!” + 

Then the river began to enter my heart, + 

Eddying back cool and limpid + 

Into the crystal beginning of its days. + 

But with the rebound it leaped forward: + 

Muddy, then black and shrunken + 

Till I felt the utter depth of its rottenness + 

The vile breadth of its degradation + 

And dropped down knowing this was me now. + 

But she lifted me and the water took a new tide + 

Again into the older experiences, + 

And so, backward and forward, + 

It tortured itself within me + 

Until time had been washed finally under, + 

And the river had found its level + 

And its last motion had ceased + 

And I knew all⁠—it became me. + 

And I knew this for double certain + 

For there, whitely, I saw myself + 

Being borne off under the water! + 

I could have shouted out in my agony + 

At the sight of myself departing + 

Forever⁠—but I bit back my despair + 

For she had averted her eyes + 

By which I knew well what she was thinking⁠— + 

And so the last of me was taken. + 

Then she, “Be mostly silent!” + 

And turning to the river, spoke again: + 

“For him and for me, river, the wandering, + 

But by you I leave for happiness + 

Deep foliage, the thickest beeches⁠— + 

Though elsewhere they are all dying⁠— + 

Tallest oaks and yellow birches + 

That dip their leaves in you, mourning, + 

As now I dip my hair, immemorial + 

Of me, immemorial of him + 

Immemorial of these our promises! + 

Here shall be a bird’s paradise, + 

They sing to you remembering my voice: + 

Here the most secluded spaces + 

For miles around, hallowed by a stench + 

To be our joint solitude and temple; + 

In memory of this clear marriage + 

And the child I have brought you in the late years. + 

Live, river, live in luxuriance + 

Remembering this our son, + 

In remembrance of me and my sorrow + 

And of the new wandering!” + 