THE COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. Walter Scott

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       But when he saw his mother’s eye

       Watch him in speechless agony,

       Back to her opened arms he flew

       Pressed on her lips a fond adieu,—

       ‘Alas’ she sobbed,—‘and yet be gone,

       And speed thee forth, like Duncan’s son!’

       One look he cast upon the bier,

       Dashed from his eye the gathering tear,

       Breathed deep to clear his laboring breast,

       And tossed aloft his bonnet crest,

       Then, like the high-bred colt when, freed,

       First he essays his fire and speed,

       He vanished, and o’er moor and moss

       Sped forward with the Fiery Cross.

       Suspended was the widow’s tear

       While yet his footsteps she could hear;

       And when she marked the henchman’s eye

       Wet with unwonted sympathy,

       ‘Kinsman,’ she said, ‘his race is run

       That should have sped thine errand on.

       The oak teas fallen?—the sapling bough Is all

       Duncraggan’s shelter now

       Yet trust I well, his duty done,

       The orphan’s God will guard my son.—

       And you, in many a danger true

       At Duncan’s hest your blades that drew,

       To arms, and guard that orphan’s head!

       Let babes and women wail the dead.’

       Then weapon-clang and martial call

       Resounded through the funeral hall,

       While from the walls the attendant band

       Snatched sword and targe with hurried hand;

       And short and flitting energy

       Glanced from the mourner’s sunken eye,

       As if the sounds to warrior dear

       Might rouse her Duncan from his bier.

       But faded soon that borrowed force;

       Grief claimed his right, and tears their course.

       XIX

      Benledi saw the Cross of Fire,

       It glanced like lightning up Strath-Ire.

       O’er dale and hill the summons flew,

       Nor rest nor pause young Angus knew;

       The tear that gathered in his eye

       He deft the mountain-breeze to dry;

       Until, where Teith’s young waters roll

       Betwixt him and a wooded knoll

       That graced the sable strath with green,

       The chapel of Saint Bride was seen.

       Swoln was the stream, remote the bridge,

       But Angus paused not on the edge;

       Though the clerk waves danced dizzily,

       Though reeled his sympathetic eye,

       He dashed amid the torrent’s roar:

       His right hand high the crosslet bore,

       His left the poleaxe grasped, to guide

       And stay his footing in the tide.

       He stumbled twice,—the foam splashed high,

       With hoarser swell the stream raced by;

       And had he fallen,—forever there,

       Farewell Duncraggan’s orphan heir!

       But still, as if in parting life,

       Firmer he grasped the Cross of strife,

       Until the opposing bank he gained,

       And up the chapel pathway strained.

       A blithesome rout that morning-tide

       Had sought the chapel of Saint Bride.

       Her troth Tombea’s Mary gave

       To Norman, heir of Armandave,

       And, issuing from the Gothic arch,

       The bridal now resumed their march.

       In rude but glad procession came

       Bonneted sire and coif-clad dame;

       And plaided youth, with jest and jeer

       Which snooded maiden would not hear:

       And children, that, unwitting why,

       Lent the gay shout their shrilly cry;

       And minstrels, that in measures vied

       Before the young and bonny bride,

       Whose downcast eye and cheek disclose

       The tear and blush of morning rose.

       With virgin step and bashful hand

       She held the kerchief’s snowy band.

       The gallant bridegroom by her side

       Beheld his prize with victor’s pride.

       And the glad mother in her ear

       Was closely whispering word of cheer.

       XXI

      Who meets them at the churchyard gate?

       The messenger of fear and fate!

       Haste in his hurried accent lies,

       And grief is swimming in his eyes.

       All dripping from the recent flood,

       Panting and travel-soiled he stood,

       The fatal sign of fire and sword

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