Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.
In the Frith of Clyde, Ailsa Crag
By William Wordsworth (17701850)During an Eclipse of the Sun, July 17
S
Appeared the Crag of Ailsa, ne’er did morn
With gleaming lights more gracefully adorn
His sides, or wreathe with mist his forehead high:
Now, faintly darkening with the sun’s eclipse,
Still is he seen, in lone sublimity,
Towering above the sea and little ships;
For dwarfs the tallest seem while sailing by,
Each for her haven; with her freight of care,
Pleasure, or grief, and toil that seldom looks
Into the secret of to-morrow’s fare;
Though poor, yet rich, without the wealth of books,
Or aught that watchful love to Nature owes
For her mute powers, fixed forms, or transient shows.