LONE CALDER! sweet Calder! beloved of my youth, When Nature I worshipped with fervour and truth; Sweet memories float like a beautiful dream O'er thy musical woodlands and murmuring stream. 'Tis fifty long years since, and now as I range Thy flower-spangled margin, alas, for the change! My youthful companions, ah! where have ye fled? Sweet, sad voices whisper—They sleep with the dead. Bright, golden-haired Bella, dear, delicate Anne, And warm-hearted Jessie, how swiftly ye ran Down the dell of the hyacinth your cousin to meet, And guide through the Calder her small, shrinking feet! Then o'er thy green holms we went bounding along, And woke up the echoes with laughter and song; With freedom and sunshine, with birds, and with flowers, And young hearts all joyous, how swift sped the hours! Dear Jessie, thou only, of all the blithe train, Art left—shall I ever behold thee again? Thy pale, gentle mother went early to rest, And her dear ones soon followed to sleep on her breast. Sweet sylvan St. Enoch's! fond mem'ry recalls Sweet voices, fair faces that dwelt in thy halls— 'Tis long since they left, and the stranger possessed The home of their fathers—the dearest, the best. From thy desolate chambers, O lonely Rosehall! The dwellers have vanished—" the steed from the stall;" The hearts that have loved thee and owned thee are dust, And thy chill halls are tarnished with mildew and rust. Though garlands of poesy entwine not thy brow, Nor bard in soft numbers thy charms will avow; Yet, Calder, a muse that is nameless will bring A song that is nameless thy beauties to sing. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...QUATORZAINS: 11. A CLOCK STRIKING AT MIDNIGHT by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES SPRING COURAGE by MADELINE BENEDICT A ROOF IS GOOD by MARY CRUMP BOULDIN WHOM EARTH HAS TAUGHT: RENEWALS by MARGARET PERKINS BRIGGS THE SONG OF THE ELEMENTS by MARY ANN BROWNE BRITANNIA'S PASTORALS: BOOK 1. THE FOURTH SONG by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) LADY WITH A CAREER by NORMA JEAN BUNTING UNIVERSAL GOOD, THE OBJECT OF THE DIVINE WILL; AND EVIL by JOHN BYROM |