September 30, 1813
The dewy morn so soft and still,
Peeps over Brassa's heath-clad hill:
Nor may the slightest breath of breeze
Break the broad mirror of the seas,
That shows the rudely pencil'd Baard,*
And thy dark brow, majestic Ward,
Rising from the azure wave,
That scarcely dares thy feet to lave !
But though so stilly and so deep,
At thy green base the billows sleep,
The Baas of Bolster's sullen roar*
Echo along the rocky shore.
The silver moon, far in the west,
Sinks in her cloudy bed to rest,
Where deeper hang the gathering shades,
As by degrees her pale light fades :
Soft show'rs unheard, and scarcely seen,
Descend upon the with' sing green ;
Slow rolling mists the landscape shroud,
"And kerchief 'd in a homely cloud,"
The dewy morn, through twilight pale,
Smiles, sadly sweet, on hill and dale.
[Extract]
Author's Notes:
* "Baard" is a very high rock, covered to its "giddy edge" by a beautiful green-sward.
* "Baas'' are rocks overflowed by the sea, bat visible at low water. Those alluded to above, take their name from a place called Boister, in the Island of Brassa, on the coast of which they are situated. The roar of the waves over them is heard, even in
the calmest night, at Lerwick; and the awful effect it produces, when no living object interrupts the tranquillity of the scene, and every other sound is ^hushed, may be more easily imagined than described.