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

Killin

Killin

By William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

The Earl of Breadalbane’s Ruined Mansion, and Family Burial-place, near Killin

WELL sang the bard who called the grave, in strains

Thoughtful and sad, the “narrow house.” No style

Of fond sepulchral flattery can beguile

Grief of her sting; nor cheat, where he detains

The sleeping dust, stern Death. How reconcile

With truth, or with each other, decked remains

Of a once warm abode, and that new pile,

For the departed, built with curious pains

And mausolean pomp? Yet here they stand

Together,—mid trim walks and artful bowers,

To be looked down upon by ancient hills,

That, for the living and the dead, demand

And prompt a harmony of genuine powers;

Concord that elevates the mind, and stills.