Through the rough copse wheel thou with hasty stride; I choose to saunter o'er the grassy plain, XXXI. THE KIRK OF ULPHA to the pilgrim's eye Take root again, a boundless canopy. 5 How sweet were leisure! could it yield no more Than 'mid that wave-washed Church-yard to recline, ΙΟ From pastoral graves extracting thoughts divine; Or there to pace, and mark the summits hoar Of distant moon-lit mountains faintly shine, Soothed by the unseen River's gentle roar. XXXII. NOT hurled precipitous from steep to steep; Lingering no more 'mid flower-enamelled lands And blooming thickets; nor by rocky bands Held; but in radiant progress toward the Deep Where mightiest rivers into powerless sleep 5 Sink, and forget their nature-now expands Majestic Duddon, over smooth flat sands Gliding in silence with unfettered sweep! Beneath an ampler sky a region wide Is opened round him :-hamlets, towers, and towns, 10 And blue-topped hills, behold him from afar; In stately mien to sovereign Thames allied Spreading his bosom under Kentish downs, With commerce freighted, or triumphant war. XXXIII. CONCLUSION. BUT here no cannon thunders to the gale; The Wanderer seeks that receptacle vast The sweets of earth contentedly resigned, XXXIV. AFTER-THOUGHT. I THOUGHT of Thee, my partner and my guide, The Form remains, the Function never dies We feel that we are greater than we know. YARROW REVISITED, AND OTHER POEMS. COMPOSED (TWO EXCEPTED) During a tour IN SCOTLAND, AND ON THE ENGLISH BORDER, IN THE AUTUMN OF 1831. ΤΟ SAMUEL ROGERS, ESQ., AS A TESTIMONY OF FRIENDSHIP, AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF INTELLECTUAL OBLIGATIONS, THESE MEMORIALS ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. RYDAL MOUNT, Dec. 11, 1834. I. The following Stanzas are a memorial of a day passed with Sir Walter Scott and other Friends visiting the Banks of the Yarrow under his guidance, immediately before his departure from Abbotsford, for Naples. The title "Yarrow Revisited" will stand in no need of explanation for Readers acquainted with the Author's previous poems suggested by that celebrated Stream. THE gallant Youth, who may have gained, Or seeks, a "winsome Marrow," Was but an Infant in the lap When first I looked on Yarrow; Once more, by Newark's Castle-gate I stood, looked, listened, and with Thee, Grave thoughts ruled wide on that sweet day, Their dignity installing In gentle bosoms, while sere leaves Were on the bough, or falling; But breezes played, and sunshine gleamed— The forest to embolden; Reddened the fiery hues, and shot Transparence through the golden. For busy thoughts the Stream flowed on In foamy agitation; And slept in many a crystal pool For quiet contemplation: No public and no private care The freeborn mind enthralling, We made a day of happy hours, 10 15 20 Brisk Youth appeared, the Morn of Youth, 25 With freaks of graceful folly, Life's temperate Noon, her sober Eve, Her Night not melancholy; Past, present, future, all appeared In harmony united, Like guests that meet, and some from far, By cordial love invited. And if, as Yarrow, through the woods Did meet us with unaltered face, Though we were changed and changing; 30 35 |