Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79. | | | | Isla | | The Maid of Isla | | Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) |
| | | O MAID of Isla, from the cliff, | |
| That looks on troubled wave and sky, | |
| Dost thou not see yon little skiff | |
| Contend with ocean gallantly? | |
| Now beating ’gainst the breeze and surge, | 5 |
| And steeped her leeward deck in foam, | |
| Why does she war unequal urge?— | |
| O Isla’s maid, she seeks her home. | |
| |
| O Isla’s maid, yon sea-bird mark, | |
| Her white wing gleams through mist and spray, | 10 |
| Against the storm-cloud, lowering dark, | |
| As to the rock she wheels away;— | |
| Where clouds are dark and billows rave, | |
| Why to the shelter should she come | |
| Of cliff, exposed to wind and wave?— | 15 |
| O maid of Isla, ’t is her home! | |
| |
| As breeze and tide to yonder skiff, | |
| Thou ’rt adverse to the suit I bring, | |
| And cold as is yon wintry cliff, | |
| Where sea-birds close their wearied wing. | 20 |
| Yet cold as rock, unkind as wave, | |
| Still, Isla’s maid, to thee I come; | |
| For in thy love or in his grave | |
| Must Allan Vourich find his home. | | | | |
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