Scottish Poetry Selection
- The Hills

It is not just the craggy mountains of Scotland which can bring pleasure to those who roam in them. The rolling hills of the Lowlands and the Southern Uplands where Walter Wingate gave Walter Wingate peace and contentment.


The Hills

I was not born among the hills;
    I never knew them as a boy;
    They came to me a later joy;
Yet more and more my spirit fills
With all the sonhood sense of home
Whenever to their heart I come.

They dream of ages lost in night;
    They lift their gaze beyond the sea
    Awaiting ages yet to be;
They change with every change of light;
Yet through their endless change express
A deeper endless changelessness.

Their solace, whencesoever drawn,
    Awaits me, sure as mother's love;
    And whether lightning leaps above,
Or but the earliest shaft of dawn,
Their presence brings the same release;
I see the hills, and am at peace.

Return to the Index of Walter Wingate Poems or the General Index of Scottish Poetry




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