Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.

Ailsa Crag

In the Frith of Clyde, Ailsa Crag

By William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

During an Eclipse of the Sun, July 17

SINCE risen from ocean, ocean to defy,

Appeared the Crag of Ailsa, ne’er did morn

With gleaming lights more gracefully adorn

His sides, or wreathe with mist his forehead high:

Now, faintly darkening with the sun’s eclipse,

Still is he seen, in lone sublimity,

Towering above the sea and little ships;

For dwarfs the tallest seem while sailing by,

Each for her haven; with her freight of care,

Pleasure, or grief, and toil that seldom looks

Into the secret of to-morrow’s fare;

Though poor, yet rich, without the wealth of books,

Or aught that watchful love to Nature owes

For her mute powers, fixed forms, or transient shows.