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The tide-swoln Frith, with sullen sounding roar,
Through the still night dash'd hoarse along the shore:
All else was hush'd as Nature's closed ee;
The silent moon shone high o'er tow'r and tree:
The chilly frost, beneath the silver beam,
Crept, gently crusting, o'er the glittering stream—
When lo! on either hand, the list'ning Bard,
The clanging sug of whistling wings is heard;
Two dusky forms dart throʻ the midnight air,
Swift as the Goss[1] drives on the wheeling hare;
Ane on the Auld Brig his airy shape uprears,
The ither flutters o'er the rising piers.
Our warlock Rhymer instantly descry'd
The Spʻrits that owre the Brigs of Ayr preside:
(That Bards are second-sighted is nae joke,
And ken the lingo of the spiritual folk;
Fays, Spankies, Kelpies, a', they can explain them;
And even the very Diels they brawly ken them):
Auld Brig appear'd of ancient Pietish race,
The very wrinkles Gothic in his face;
He seem'd as he is time had warsl'd lang,
Yet, toughly doure, he bade an unco bang.
New Brig was buskit in a braw new coat,
That he, at Lon'on, frae ane Adams, got:
In's hand five taper-staves, as smooth's a bead,
Wi' virls and whirlygigums at the head.
The Goth was stalking round wi' anxious search,
Spying the time-worn flaws in ev'ry arch;
It chane'd his new come neibour took his ee,
And e'en a vex'd and angry heart had he:
Wi' thieveless sheer to see his modish mein,
He, down the water, gies him thus gude-e'en.—
Through the still night dash'd hoarse along the shore:
All else was hush'd as Nature's closed ee;
The silent moon shone high o'er tow'r and tree:
The chilly frost, beneath the silver beam,
Crept, gently crusting, o'er the glittering stream—
When lo! on either hand, the list'ning Bard,
The clanging sug of whistling wings is heard;
Two dusky forms dart throʻ the midnight air,
Swift as the Goss[1] drives on the wheeling hare;
Ane on the Auld Brig his airy shape uprears,
The ither flutters o'er the rising piers.
Our warlock Rhymer instantly descry'd
The Spʻrits that owre the Brigs of Ayr preside:
(That Bards are second-sighted is nae joke,
And ken the lingo of the spiritual folk;
Fays, Spankies, Kelpies, a', they can explain them;
And even the very Diels they brawly ken them):
Auld Brig appear'd of ancient Pietish race,
The very wrinkles Gothic in his face;
He seem'd as he is time had warsl'd lang,
Yet, toughly doure, he bade an unco bang.
New Brig was buskit in a braw new coat,
That he, at Lon'on, frae ane Adams, got:
In's hand five taper-staves, as smooth's a bead,
Wi' virls and whirlygigums at the head.
The Goth was stalking round wi' anxious search,
Spying the time-worn flaws in ev'ry arch;
It chane'd his new come neibour took his ee,
And e'en a vex'd and angry heart had he:
Wi' thieveless sheer to see his modish mein,
He, down the water, gies him thus gude-e'en.—
- ↑ The Goss-hawk, or Falcon,
