104 YARROW UNVISITED. For only one short hour to feel as I used to feel, 'O but for one short hour! a respite however brief! And still, with a voice of dolorous pitch, Hood. elevate the condition of the hardtoiling needlewomen. 2 Pitch, tone. 3 From weary chime to chime, from one tedious hour to another. YARROW UNVISITED. From Stirling Castle we had seen 'Let Yarrow folk, frae Selkirk town, 'There's Gala Water, Leader Haughs, Both lying right before us; 2 And Dryburgh, where with chiming Tweed, The lintwhites sing in chorus. There's pleasant Teviotdale, a land Made blithe with plough and harrow; 'What's Yarrow but a river bare, That glides the dark hills under? There are a thousand such elsewhere As worthy of your wonder.' Strange words they seemed of slight and scorn; My true love sighed for sorrow, And looked me in the face to think I thus could speak of Yarrow ! 'Oh! green,' said I, 'are Yarrow's holms, And sweet is Yarrow flowing! Fair hangs the apple frae the rocks, We'll wander Scotland thorough; But, though so near, we will not turn Into the dale of Yarrow. 'Let beeves and home-bred kine partake 'Be Yarrow's stream unseen, unknown! 106 YARROW VISITED. The treasured dreams of times long past, 'If care, with freezing years should come, Should we be loath to stir from home, Should life be dull, and spirits low, 1 Clovenfords, a hamlet on the Caddon, 3 Strath, valley. 4 Beeves, oxen. Wordsworth. 5 St Mary's Lake, a small lake in the county of Selkirk, from the east end of which rises the river Yarrow. 6 Holms, flat rich land lying along the banks of a river. YARROW VISITED. And is this Yarrow? This the stream So faithfully a waking dream, An image that hath perished? Oh! that some minstrel's harp were near, And chase the silence from the air, Yet why ?-A silvery current flows Been soothed, in all my wanderings. For not a feature of these hills Is in the mirror slighted. A blue sky bends o'er Yarrow Vale, Though not unwilling here to admit Where was it that the famous Flower Delicious is the lay that sings The haunts of happy lovers, The path that leads them to the grove The leafy grove that covers : And pity sanctifies the verse That paints by strength of sorrow, The unconquerable strength of Love; Bear witness, rueful Yarrow ! But thou that didst appear so fair To fond imagination, Dost rival in the light of day Her delicate creation: Meek loveliness is round thee spread, A softness still and holy; The grace of forest charms decayed, That region left, the vale unfolds Rich groves of lofty stature, With Yarrow winding through the pomp 108 YARROW VISITED. And, rising from these lofty groves, Behold a ruin hoary! The shattered front of Newark's towers,3 Fair scenes for childhood's opening bloom, Yon cottage seems a bower of bliss, Of tender thoughts that nestle there, How sweet on this autumnal day, I see-but not by sight alone, The vapours linger round the heights, Thy genuine image, Yarrow! Will dwell with me to heighten joy, And cheer my mind in sorrow. Wordsworth. |