Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.
Avon Braes
By David Wingate (18281892)’T
From Cadzow pastures brushed the dew;
The laverock lilted o’er the bere,
And through the woods shone white Mill Heugh;
His feathered guile the fisher threw,
The cushie cooed his dearie’s praise,—
When forth I hied the flowers to view,
And spend an hour on Avon braes.
To languish in a sunny glade,
To aid the zephyr with a sigh,
And gie each flower a sombre shade.
Exulting through the woods I strayed,
Through mony a brier and rosy maze;
Or watched where shimmering ripples played
On Avon, lingering ’mang its braes.
And far beneath me, spreading gay,
With blossomed broom and crawflowers tinged,
The summer-painted landscape lay.
There woodbine wound its spiral way,
There brambles leaned on neebor slaes;
And Robin warbled on the spray,
The blithest bird on Avon braes.
And there her gentler bell I saw;
And, oh! how fondly round them flew
The odor o’ the blooming haw!
Suppressed my worldly yearnings a’,
I only wished in measured praise
To sing the charms o’ glade and shaw,
The linns and rills o’ Avon braes.
And a’ the charms o’ yonder glen,
Nae stars wad woo me far awa’,
To wair my golden thousands ten.
If wranged by rude unfeeling men,
The river’s sang might soothe my waes;
And wha, a life o’ joy to spend,
Need flee frae Avon’s bonny braes?