The Poetical Works of David Macbeth Moir :: :: University of Virginia Library

The Poetical Works of David Macbeth Moir

Edited by Thomas Aird: With A Memoir of the Author

Moir, D. M. (1798-1851)

II.

POEMS IN REFERENCE TO CHILDHOOD.

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IV. ABBOTSFORD.

The calm of evening o'er the dark pine-wood
Lay with an aureate glow, as we explored
Thy classic precincts, hallow'd Abbotsford!
And at thy porch in admiration stood:
We felt thou wert the work, th' abode of Him
Whose fame hath shed a lustre on our age,
The mightiest of the mighty!—o'er whose page
Thousands shall hang, until Time's eye grow dim;
And then we thought, when shall have pass'd away
The millions now pursuing life's career,
And Scott himself is dust, how, lingering here,
Pilgrims from all the lands of earth shall stray
Amid thy cherish'd ruins, and survey
The scenes around, with reverential fear!

This sonnet has been honoured by a translation into Italian— by an accomplished scholar of that country—which appeared in Blackwood's Magazine, November 1829.