Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.

Forth, the River

The Forth

By John B. Greenshields

(From Home)

BUT where the Forth’s broad river sweeps the plain,

Moving to wed, fair stream, the eastern main,

Yet nobler scenes unfold,—a crowded port,

Where Commerce, sire of empire, holds his court;

The dark blue Frith, where many a whitened sail

Rests in the roads, or, pausing, courts the gale;

The isles that on its breast repose serene,

Here gray with rocks, there softening into green;

The expanse beyond, which owns no bounding line

But that where sea and sky their tints combine;

Save where, illumined by the westering ray,

The rock-walled Bass ascends, or humbler May;

And, lovelier still, the winding northern shore,

With hamlets, towns, and castles, brightened o’er,

Adorned with fields from waste by culture won,

That gently swell to meet the summer sun;

While o’er their heads the giant Lomonds rise,—

Proud sons of earth that threaten yet the skies.