Yarrow Unvisited

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From Stirling castle we had seen    The mazy Forth unravelled;    Had trod the banks of Clyde, and Tay,    And with the Tweed had travelled;    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 her herons feed,   Hares couch, and rabbits burrow!   But we will downward 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 lintwhites sing in chorus;   There's pleasant Tiviot-dale, a land   Made blithe with plough and harrow:   Why throw away a needful day   To go in search of Yarrow?   "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 seemed of slight and scorn;   My True-love sighed for sorrow;   And looked 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'er there, although 'tis fair,   'Twill be another Yarrow!   "If Care with freezing years should come,   And wandering seem but folly,—   Should we be loth to stir from home,    And yet be melancholy;   Should life be dull, and spirits low,   'Twill soothe us in our sorrow,   That earth has something yet to show,   The bonny holms of

See the various Poems the scene of which is laid upon the banks of the Yarrow; in particular, the exquisite Ballad of Hamilton beginning--Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny, bonny Bride,

Busk ye, busk ye, my winsome Marrow!

Form:

Composition Date: 18031.

Written during Wordsworth's tour in Scotland in 1803.

Yarrow is the scene of several ballads.

Wordsworth had in mind Logan's Braes of Yarrow,

Willie's Drowned in Yarrow, and probably others.6.

Marrow: mate, companion.

He is addressing his sister Dorothy.17.

The Galla and the Leader are both tributaries of the Tweed.

Haughs: low-lying meadows.20.lintwhites: linnets.33.holms: low-lying meadows.37.

Strath: valley.