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  • The Victoria Falls
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The Victoria Falls

Muriel Spark

So hushed, so hot, the broad Zambesi lies
Above the Falls, and on her weedy isles
Swing antic monkeys swarm malignant flies,
And seeming-lazy lurk long crocodiles.
But somewhere down the river does the hush
Become a sibilance that hints a sigh,
A murmur, mounting as the currents rush
Faster, and while the murmur is a cry
The cry becomes a shout, the shout a thunder
Until the whole Zambesi waters pour
Into the earth’s side, agitating under
Infinite spray mists, pounding the world’s floor.
Wrapped in this liquid turmoil who can say
Which is the mighty echo, which the spray?

1948


Muriel Spark

from All the Poems (Carcanet, 2004)

Reproduced by permission of Copyright Administration Limited.

Tags:

Africa animals crocodiles jungle nature rivers sonnets waterfalls
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Muriel Spark1918 - 2006

While Edinburgh-born Muriel Spark was one of the most highly regarded British novelists of the 20th century, she herself wrote ‘I have always thought of myself as a poet’.
More about Muriel Spark
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The Thursday Post: Celebrate Muriel Spark with the SPL in February

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Muriel Spark is best known as a novelist, the author of 22 works of fiction that includes classics such as The Girls of Slender Means, The Driver’s Seat and, of course, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. She was...
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