YARROW REVISITED, AND OTHER POEMS

COMPOSED (TWO EXCEPTED) DURING A TOUR IN SCOTLAND AND ON THE ENGLISH BORDER, IN THE AUTUMN OF 1831.

V. COMPOSED IN ROSLIN CHAPEL DURING A STORM

          THE wind is now thy organist;--a clank
          (We know not whence) ministers for a bell
          To mark some change of service. As the swell
          Of music reached its height, and even when sank
          The notes, in prelude, ROSLIN! to a blank
          Of silence, how it thrilled thy sumptuous roof,
          Pillars, and arches,--not in vain time-proof,
          Though Christian rites be wanting! From what bank
          Came those live herbs? by what hand were they sown
          Where dew falls not, where rain-drops seem unknown?         10
          Yet in the Temple they a friendly niche
          Share with their sculptured fellows, that, green-grown,
          Copy their beauty more and more, and preach,
          Though mute, of all things blending into one.