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

Roslin

At the Linn-Side, Roslin

By Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (1826–1887)

O LIVING, living water,

So busy and so bright,

Aye flashing in the morning beams,

And sounding through the night;

O, golden-shining water,—

Would God that I might be

A vocal message from his mouth

Into the world, like thee!

O merry, merry water,

Which nothing e’er affrays;

And as it pours from rock to rock

Nothing e’er stops or stays;

But past cool heathery hollows

And gloomy pools it flows;

Past crags that fain would shut it in

Leaps through,—and on it goes.

O fresh’ning, sparkling water,

O voice that ’s never still,

Though winter lays her dead-white hand

On brae and glen and hill;

Though no leaf ’s left to flutter

In woods all mute and hoar,

Yet thou, O river, night and day

Thou runnest evermore.

No foul thing can pollute thee;

Thy swiftness casts aside

All ill, like a good heart and true,

However sorely tried.

O living, living water,

So fresh and bright and free,—

God lead us through this changeful world

Forever pure, like thee!