<h2><SPAN name="chap39"></SPAN>MEMPHIS</h2>
<p class="poem">
Why should I sing of my present? It is nothing to me or you,<br/>
Rather I’d dream of Dixie and tie ships on the old bayou!<br/>
Rather I’d dream of my packets and the lazy river days,<br/>
Rather I’d dream of my levee and the crimson sunset haze,<br/>
<br/>
Rather I’d dream of my triumphs, of the days that are long gone by,<br/>
Rather I’d dream of flame-tipped stacks against a saffron sky,<br/>
Of level lawns of topaz, of level fields of jade,<br/>
Of the rambling pillared mansions that my fathers’ fathers made!<br/>
<br/>
Why should I sing of my present? It is nothing to you or me,<br/>
But the river road, the great road, the high road to the sea!<br/>
Aye, that is worth the dreaming, aye, that was worth the pain.<br/>
Send me back my river, and I shall wake again!<br/></p>
<p class="left">
GORDON MALHERBE HILLMAN</p>
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