O! while they minister to thee, Each vying with the other, May Health return to mellow Age, With Strength, her venturous brother; 60 And Tiber, and each brook and rill Renowned in song and story, With unimagined beauty shine, Nor lose one ray of glory! For Thou, upon a hundred streams, 65 By tales of love and sorrow, Of faithful love, undaunted truth, Hast shed the power of Yarrow; And streams unknown, hills yet unseen, Wherever they[693] invite Thee, 70 At parent Nature's grateful call, With gladness must requite Thee. A gracious welcome shall be thine, Such looks of love and honour As thy own Yarrow gave to me 75 When first I gazed upon her; Beheld what I had feared to see, Unwilling to surrender Dreams treasured up from early days, The holy and the tender. 80 And what, for this frail world, were all That mortals do or suffer, Did no responsive harp, no pen, Memorial tribute offer? Yea, what were mighty Nature's self? 85 Her features, could they win us, Unhelped by the poetic voice That hourly speaks within us? Nor deem that localised Romance Plays false with our affections; 90 Unsanctifies our tears--made sport For fanciful dejections: Ah, no! the visions of the past Sustain the heart in feeling Life as she is--our changeful Life, 95 With friends and kindred dealing. Bear witness, Ye, whose thoughts that day In Yarrow's groves were centred; Who through the silent portal arch Of mouldering Newark enter'd; 100 And clomb the winding stair that once Too timidly was mounted By the "last Minstrel," (not the last!) Ere he his Tale recounted. Flow on for ever, Yarrow Stream! 105 Fulfil thy pensive duty, Well pleased that future Bards should chant For simple hearts thy beauty; To dream-light dear while yet unseen, Dear to the common sunshine, 110 And dearer still, as now I feel, To memory's shadowy moonshine! FOOTNOTES: