FROM Stirling Castle we had seen
The mazy Forth unravell'd;

Had trod the banks of Clyde and Tay,
And with the Tweed had travell'd;
And when we came to Clovenford,

Then said my "winsome marrow," "Whate'er betide, we 'll turn aside, And see the Braes of Yarrow.”

"Let Yarrow folk, frae Selkirk Town,
Who have been buying, selling,
Go back to Yarrow, 'tis their own;
Each maiden to her dwelling!
On Yarrow's banks let herons feed,
Hares couch, and rabbits burrow;
But we will downwards with the Tweed,
Nor turn aside to Yarrow.

"There's Galla Water, Leader Haughs,

Both lying right before us;

And Dryborough, where with chiming Tweed The lint whites sing in chorus;

There's pleasant Tiviot-dale, a land

Made blythe with plough and harrow:

Why throw away a needful day,

To go in search of Yarrow?

YARROW UNVISITED.

"What's Yarrow but a river bare,

That glides the dark hills under? There are a thousand such elsewhere. As worthy of your wonder."

Strange words they seem'd, of slight and scorr. ;
My true-love sigh'd for sorrow,

And look'd me in the face, to think
I thus could speak of Yarrow!

"Oh! green,” said I, “are Yarrow's Holms,
And sweet is Yarrow flowing!

Fair hangs the apple frae the rock,
But we will leave it growing.

O'er hilly path, and open strath,

We'll wander Scotland thorough;

But, though so near, we will not turn
Into the Dale of Yarrow.

"Let beeves and home-bred kine partake
The sweets of Burn-mill meadow ;
The swan on still St. Mary's Lake
Float double, swan and shadow!
We will not see them; will not go,
To-day, nor yet to-morrow;
Enough, if in our hearts we know

There's such a place as Yarrow.

Be Yarrow Stream unseen, unknown!
It must, or we shall rue it :
We have a vision of our own;

Ah! why should we undo it?

The treasured dreams of times long past,
We'll keep them, winsome marrow!
For when we're there, although 'tis fair,
'Twill be another Yarrow!