Scottish Poetry Selection
- Sabbath

Here, Walter Wingate uses the the varying length of the lines of this poem to good effect. In days gone by (and still today, in the Western Isles) the Sabbath was very much the day of rest.


Sabbath

This lazy after-dinner hour,
When Sabbath steeples doze
How sweetly blooms the scented flower,
Repose!

Adown the meadow's breast of green
The tussock-shadows creep;
Tall chimneys far beyond are seen -
Asleep.

A sunny silence bathes the vale;
The daw along the hill,
The autumn robin's plaintive tale,
Are still.

In very truth, a Sabbath day:
The old benign behest
The very blades of grass obey
And Rest

Meaning of unusual words:
daw=dawn

Return to the Index of Scottish Poetry Selection



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