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

Clyde, the River

The Vale of Clyde

By John Struthers (1776–1853)

ADMIRING nature’s simple charms,

I left my humble home,

Awhile my country’s peaceful plain

With pilgrim step to roam:

I marked the leafy summer wave

On flowing Irvine’s side,

But richer far ’s the robe she wears

Within the vale of Clyde.

I roamed the braes of bonnie Doon,

The winding banks of Ayr,

Where flutters many a small bird gay,

Blooms many a floweret fair;

But dearer far to me the stem

That once was Calder’s pride,

And blossoms now, the fairest flower,

Within the vale of Clyde.

Avaunt! thou life-repressing north!

Ye withering east-winds too!

But come, thou all-reviving west,

Breathe soft thy genial dew;

Until at length, in peaceful age,

This lovely floweret shed

Its last green leaf upon my tomb,

Within the vale of Clyde.