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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNETS ON THE SCENERY OF THE ESK: 3 by DAVID MACBETH MOIR

First Line: DOWN FROM THE OLD OAK FORESTS OF DALKEITH
Last Line: ANGLERS, THAT PATIENT O'ER THY MIRROR LEAN?
Subject(s): ESK (RIVER), SCOTLAND; LANDSCAPE;

DOWN from the old oak forests of Dalkeith,
Where majesty surrounds a ducal home,
Between fresh pastures gleaming thou dost come,
Bush, scaur, and rock, and hazelly shaw beneath,
Till, greeting thee from slopes of orchard ground,
Towers Inveresk with its proud villas fair,
Scotland's Montpelier, for salubrious air,
And beauteous prospect wide and far renowned.
What else could be, since thou, with winding tide
Below dost ripple pleasantly, thy green
And osiered banks outspread, where frequent seen,
The browsing heifer shows her dappled side,
And 'mid the bloom-bright furze are oft descried
Anglers, that patient o'er thy mirror lean?



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