James Grahame

James Grahame (22 April 1765 – 14 September 1811) was a Scottish poet and clergyman. His best-known poem, The Sabbath, combines devotional feeling with vivid description of Scottish scenery.

• How still the morning of the hallow'd day!
  Mute is the voice of rural labour, hush'd
  The ploughboy's whistle, and the milkmaid's song.
  The scythe lies glittering in the dewy wreath
  Of tedded grass, mingled with fading flowers,
  That yestermorn bloom'd waving in the breeze:
  The faintest sounds attract the ear, — the hum
  Of early bee, the trickling of the dew,
  The distant bleating, midway up the hill.
  • The Sabbath, l. 1 (1804)

•      Nature gives a parting smile.
  As yet the blue-bells linger on the sod
  That copes the sheepfold ring; and in the woods
  A second blow of many flowers appears,
  Flowers faintly ting'd and breathing no perfume.
  But fruits, not blossoms, form the woodland wreath
  That circles Autumn's brow.
  • "An Autumn Sabbath Walk", l. 28. The Sabbath, ... to which are now added, Sabbath Walks (New York, 1805) p. 83. Variants: 'yielding' instead of 'breathing'

• How pleasant came thy rushing, silver Tweed!
  Upon my ear when, after roaming long
  In southern plains, I've reach'd thy lovely bank!
  How bright, renowned Sark, thy little stream,
  Like ray of column'd light chasing a shower,
  Would cross my homeward path! how sweet the sound
  When I, to hear the Doric tongue's reply,
  Would ask thy well-known name.
  • "September", l. 190. British Georgics (Edinburgh, 1809) p. 179

• Encyclopedic article on James Grahame on Wikipedia