Blair Collection > Selections from the Gaelic bards

28 MODERN GAELIC BARDS.
The thrush there threw its steam oft',
Upon a stake alone :
And the brown wren so blithsome,
Had music of its own.
The linnet with a jealous bend,
Tuned up his choicest string ;
The black-cock he was croaking,
The hen did hoarsely sing.
The trout kept leaping nimbly,
With merry plunge and play ; '
Dimpling the burn with sprightly tricks,
Warm in the sunny raj r .
Their blade-blue back and spotted gills,
Gleamed with their gemlike scales ;
When with a dash they snapt the fly,
That careless wandering sails.
How sweet, and swift, and limpid,
Fast whirling soft of sound ;
The Sugar Brook's rough torrent wave,
That sweeps and murmurs round.
All grasses, herbs, and wild flowers,
Close to its borders rise ;
Which, with the sappy source of life,
Its pleasant stream supplies.
This clean transparent streamlet,
That flows so bright and clear ;
With the soul of growth and motion,
Fills all the meadows near :
Where fly the yellow-red bees,
And tickle golden flowers;
To fill with store of honey sweet,
The wax-cell in their bowers.
A soothing sound is that which conies,
From the loud-bellowing kye ;