Lone Calder! sweet Calder! beloved of my youth, <br />When Nature I worshipped with fervour and truth; <br />Sweet memories float like a beautiful dream <br />O'er thy musical woodlands and murmuring stream. <br /> <br /> <br />'Tis fifty long years sincé, and now as I range <br />Thy flower-spangled margin, alas, for the change! <br />My youthful companions, ah! where have ye fled? <br />Sweet, sad voices whisper, They sleep with the dead. <br /> <br /> <br />Bright, golden-haired Bella, dear, delicate Anne, <br />And warm-hearted Jessie, how swiftly ye ran <br />Down the dell of the hyacinth your cousin to meet, <br />And guide through the Calder her small, shrinking feet! <br /> <br /> <br />Then o'er thy green holms we went bounding along, <br />And woke up the echoes with laughter and song; <br />With freedom and sunshine, with birds, and with flowers, <br />And young hearts all joyous, how swift sped the hours! <br /> <br /> <br />Dear Jessie, thou only, of all the blithe train, <br />Art left-shall I ever behold thee again? <br />Thy pale, gentle mother went early to rest, <br />And her dear ones soon followed to sleep on her breast. <br /> <br /> <br />Sweet sylvan, St Enoch's fond mem'ry recalls <br />Sweet voices, fair faces, that dwelt in thy halls- <br />'Tis long since they left, and the stranger possessed <br />The home of their fathers-the dearest, the best. <br /> <br /> <br />From thy desolate chambers, Oh lonely Rosehall! <br />The dwellers have vanished-'the steed from the stall;' <br />The hearts that have loved thee and owned thee are dust, <br />And thy chill halls are tarnished with mildew and rust. <br /> <br /> <br />Though garlands of poesy entwine not thy brow, <br />Nor bard in soft numbers thy charms will avow; <br />Yet, Calder, a muse that is nameless will bring <br />A song that is nameless thy beauties to sing.<br /><br />Janet Hamilton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/verses-on-the-calder-in-it-s-course-by-st-enoch-s-rosehall-c/
