Wild youth with strange fruitage of errors and tears—
A midday of bliss and a midnight of fears-
Though chequer'd, and sad, and mistaken you've been,
Still love I to muse on the hours we have seen!
With those long-vanished hours fair visions are flown,
And the soul of the minstrel sinks pensive and lone ;
In vain would I ask of the future to bring
The verdure that gladden'd my life in its spring!
I think of the glen where the hazel-nut grew—
The pine-covered hill where the heather-bell blew—
The trout-burn which soothed with its murmuring sweet,
The wild flowers that gleamed on the red deer's retreat!
I look for the mates full of ardour and truth,
Whose joys, like my own, were the sunbeams of youthThey passed e'er the morning of hope knew its close— They left me to sleep where our fathers repose !
Where is now the wide hearth with the big faggot's blaze,
Where circled the legend and song of old days?
The legend's forgotten, the hearth is grown cold,
The home of my childhood to strangers is sold !
Like a pilgrim who speeds on a perilous way,
I pause, ere I part, oft again to survey
Those scenes ever dear to the friends I deplore,
Whose feast of young smiles I may never share more!
Ir seems a dream the infant love
That tamed my truant will,
But 'twas a dream of happiness,
And I regret it still!
Its images are part of me,
A very part of mind—
Feelings and fancies beautiful
In purity combined!
Time's sunset lends a tenderer tinge
To what those feelings were,
Like the cloud-mellow'd radiance
Which evening landscapes bear:
They wedded are unto my soul,
As light is blent with heat,
Or as the hallowed confluence
Of air with odours sweet.
Though she, the spirit of that dream,
Lacks of the loveliness
Young fancy robed her in, yet I
May hardly love her less:
Even when as in my boyish time
I nestled by her side,
Her ever gentle impulses
Thorrow my being glide!
CHAUNT on, ye stormy voices, loud and shrill
Your wild tumultuous melody-strip
The forest of its clothing-leave it bare,
As a deserted and world-trampled foundling !
Lash on, ye rains, and pour your tide of might
Unceasingly and strong, and blench the Earth's
Green mantle with your floods: Suddenly swell
The brawling torrent in the sleep-locked night,
That it may deluge the subjacent plain,
And spread destruction where security
Had fondly built its faith, and knelt before
The altar of its refuge-Sweep ye down
Palace and mansion, hall and lofty tower,
And creeping shed, into one common grave!
Ye lightnings that are flashing fitfully-
(Heaven's messengers) askant the lurid sky,
Burst forth in one vast sheet of whelming fire-
Pass through the furnace the base lords of earth,
With subtile fury inextinguishable-
That, purified, they may again appear
As erst they were, free of soul-searing sin
And worldly-mindedness! For mailed they be,
Obdurate all, in selfish adamant,
So rivetted, that it would need a fire
Potential as the ever-burning pit,
To overcome and melt it, so that hearts
Might beat and spirits move to chords sublime,
Tuned by the hand of the Omnipotent,
As when man, from His Hands, in His beauty came !
IF to thy heart I were as near
As thou art near to mine,
I'd hardly care though a' the year
Nae sun on earth suld shine, my dear,
Nae sun on earth suld shine!
Twin starnies are thy glancin' een-
A warld they'd licht and mair—
And gin that ye be my Christine,
Ae blink to me ye'll spare, my dear,
Ae blink to me ye'll spare!
My leesome May I've wooed too lang-
Aneath the trystin' tree,
I've sung till a' the plantin's rang,
Wi' lays o' love for thee, my dear,
Wi' lays o' love for thee.
The dew-draps glisten on the green,
The laverocks lilt on high,
We'll forth and doun the loan, Christine,
And kiss when nane is nigh, my dear,
And kiss when nane is nigh!
AND HAE YE SEEN MY AIN TRUE LUVE?
"AND hae ye seen my ain true luve
As ye cam thro' the fair?
Ae blink o' her's worth a' the goud
And gear that glistens there!"-
"And how suld I ken your true luve
Frae ither lasses braw
That trysted there, busked out like queens,
Wi' pearlins, knots and a'?”
"Ye may ken her by her snaw-white skin,
And by her waist sae sma;
Ye may ken her by her searchin' ee,
And hair like glossy craw;
Ye may ken her by the hinnie mou,
And by the rose-dyed cheek,
But best o' a' by smiles o' licht
That luve's ain language speak!
"Ye may ken her by her fairy step-
As she trips up the street,
The very pavement seems to shine
Aneath her genty feet!
may ken her by the jewell'd rings
Upon her fingers sma',
Yet better by the dignity
That she glides through them a'.
"And ye may ken her by the voice-
The music o' her tongue-
Wha heard her speak incontinent
Wad think an angel sung !
And such seems she to me, and mair
That wale o' woman's charms—
It's bliss to press her dear wee mou
And daut her in my arms!"
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