Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.
The Maid of Isla
By Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832)O
That looks on troubled wave and sky,
Dost thou not see yon little skiff
Contend with ocean gallantly?
Now beating ’gainst the breeze and surge,
And steeped her leeward deck in foam,
Why does she war unequal urge?—
O Isla’s maid, she seeks her home.
Her white wing gleams through mist and spray,
Against the storm-cloud, lowering dark,
As to the rock she wheels away;—
Where clouds are dark and billows rave,
Why to the shelter should she come
Of cliff, exposed to wind and wave?—
O maid of Isla, ’t is her home!
Thou ’rt adverse to the suit I bring,
And cold as is yon wintry cliff,
Where sea-birds close their wearied wing.
Yet cold as rock, unkind as wave,
Still, Isla’s maid, to thee I come;
For in thy love or in his grave
Must Allan Vourich find his home.