Scottish Poetry Selection
- Dear To My Heart As Life's Warm Stream
The writer of this poem, Mrs John Hunter, was born Ann Home in Berwickshire in 1742, the daughter of an army surgeon. In 1771 she married John Hunter, a distinguished anatomist. Her songs demonstrate a delicacy of thought, combined with a force and sweetness of expression.
Dear To My Heart As Life's Warm Stream
Dear to my heart as life's warm stream,
Which animates this mortal clay;
For thee I court the waking dream,
And deck with smiles the future day;
And thus beguile the present pain,
With hopes that we shall meet again!Yet will it be as when the past
Twined every joy, and care, and thought,
And o'er our minds one mantle cast,
Of kind affections finely wrought.
Ah, no! the groundless hope were vain,
For so we ne'er can meet again!May he who claims thy tender heart,
Deserve its love as I have done!
For, kind and gentle as thou art,
If so beloved, thou'rt fairly won.
Bright may the sacred torch remain,
And cheer thee till we meet again!
Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
