Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79. | | | | Grishornish | | The Maid of Grishornish | | John Stuart Blackie (1809–1895) |
| | | THE CLOUDS are scowling on the hill, the mist is thick and gray, | |
| The sun slants out behind the cloud a cold and meagre ray, | |
| The shepherd wraps his plaid about, and reads the tristful skies, | |
| And to his faithful collie dog across the moor he cries; | |
| But in my heart there sings a bird, with song both loud and clear, | 5 |
| A song that makes me bright within, while all without is drear; | |
| And thus the little bird doth sing with happy chirp to me, | |
| The lovely maid of Grishornish thy bonnie bride shall be. | |
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| O Grishornish, thy rocks are black, thy moors are brown and bare! | |
| Who would have thought so fair a thing was kindly nurtured there? | 10 |
| As mild as summer’s balmy breath upon thy wintry shore, | |
| As gentle as an angel’s wing ’bove thy rude tempest’s roar, | |
| As pure as pearl in lucid seas, and like a star serene, | |
| When rifted clouds are racing past, with azure stripes between; | |
| And thus the bird within my breast sings sweetly still to me, | 15 |
| Right soon the maid of Grishornish thy bonnie bride shall be. | |
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| O Grishornish, and Vaternish, and every Nish in Skye, | |
| On you let heaven pour down the rain till all its wells be dry! | |
| With rain and wind and mist and storm I am content to dwell, | |
| If but the maid of Grishornish shall live and love me well; | 20 |
| If but her fine and dainty lip, and mildly beaming eye, | |
| Shall make me lord of more than all Macleod commands in Skye; | |
| If but the little bird shall sing within my breast to me, | |
| The lovely maid of Grishornish thy winsome wife shall be. | | | | |
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