The Banks of Tay. Robert Carmichael. Tay, the River. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. 1876-79. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes. Scotland: Vols. VI-VIII

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

Tay, the River

The Banks of Tay

Robert Carmichael


BY Grampia’s towering mountains high,
Whose rocky summits skirt the sky,
Wild rolls the queen of Scotia’s floods,
Adorned by Athole’s ancient woods:
Along their winding walks in spring,	5
How sweet to hear the wild birds sing;
At peep of dawn, how sweet to stray
Adown the bonnie banks of Tay!

Here summer’s sun, with golden gleams,
Gilds mountain-tops, the woods, the streams;	10
Before his early, piercing ray,
The wreaths of white mist wheel away,
Revealing all the lovely scene,—
The woods, thick clothed in foliage green,
High waving o’er the wild rocks gray	15
Upon the bonnie banks of Tay!

Enchanting scenes! how oft in view
To fancy’s eye, fresh, blooming, new,—
The flowing river, mountain, strath,
The winding of each woodland path;	20
And dearer still, fond friendship’s ties,
And true love’s flame that never dies;
All these were mine: now far away
I mourn the bonnie banks of Tay!