[From Mannin #7 1916]

To the Silverburn

Buttercups, buttercups,
Sweet Silverburn,
With a smiling welcome
Wherever we turn!
Here a bit of ragged-robin
Caught among the sedge,
There a wagtail, silver amiced,
At the water's edge.

O. the bonny rambles,
O. the merry crew,
O. the water-meadows
Spreading to Malew!
Leaping o'er the bubbling courses,
Plashing in the pool-
Silly little runaways
From the grey old school.

Cows with golden udders,
Standing in the grass,
Golden from the pollen
That woos them as they pass;
Meadow-sweet and Ox-eye daisies,
Cuckoos' bread and cheese,
Campion and Lady-smock,
Butterflies and Bees!

Merry bells of heather,
Sheets of burning gorse,
A blaze of golden trumpets
In a purple cloud of horse !
But chief of all the memories
That brokenly return,
Is buttercups, buttercups,
Sweet Silverburn!

F. B. KERMODE