448 When hymns of other worlds she sung O, then the glen was all in motion! Broke from their bughts" and faulds the tame, And the tod, and the lamb, and the leveret ran; And the merle and the mavis forhooy'd" their young; It was like an Eve in a sinless world! When a month and a day had come and gane, There laid her down on the leaves sae green, For they kendna whether she was living or dead. WHEN THE KYE COMES HAME COME all ye jolly shepherds, I'll tell ye of a secret That courtiers dinna ken: What is the greatest bliss That the tongue o' man can name? 'Tis to woo a bonny lassie When the kye comes hame. When the kye comes hame, When the kye comes hame, 'Tween the gloaming an' the mirk When the kye comes hame. 'Tis not beneath the coronet, There the blackbird bigs his nest O, a happy bird is he; When the blewart bears a pearl, Then the laverock frae the blue lift Drops down, an' thinks nae shame To woo his bonny lassie When the kye comes hame. See yonder pawkie shepherd, An' his lambs are lying still; 449 Yet he downa gang to bed, When the kye comes hame. When the little wee bit heart That the heart can hardly frame, Wi' a bonny, bonny lassie, When the kye comes hame! Then since all nature joins When the kye comes hame, THE SKYLARK BIRD of the wilderness, Blythesome and cumberless, Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea! Blest is thy dwelling-place O to abide in the desert with thee! Wild is thy lay and loud, Far in the downy cloud, Love gives it energy, love gave it birth. Where, on thy dewy wing, Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth. O'er fell and fountain sheen, O'er moor and mountain green, O'er the red steamer that heralds the day, Over the rainbow's rim, Musical cherub, soar, singing, away! Then, when the gloaming comes, Low in the heather blooms, Sweet will thy welcome and bed of love be! Blest is thy dwelling-place O to abide in the desert with thee! 450 LOCK THE DOOR, LARISTON Lock the door, Lariston, lion of Liddisdale, The widows are crying, The Castletown's burning, and Oliver's gone! Lock the door, Lariston.-high on the weather-gleam, Yeoman and carbinier, Bilman and halberdier; Fierce is the foray, and far is the cry. Bewcastle brandishes high his broad scimitar; Hidley and Howard there, Wandale and Windermere, Lock the door, Lariston; hold them at bay. Why dost thou smile, noble Elliot of Lariston? Beware of thy danger; Thy foes are relentless, determined, and nigh. Jock Elliot raised up his steel bonnet and lookit, His hand grasped the sword with a nervous embrace; 'Ah, welcome, brave foemen, On earth there are no men More gallant to meet in the foray or chase! 'Little know you of the hearts I have hidden here; Little know you of our moss-troopers' might Lindhope and Sorbie true, Sundhope and Milburn too, Gentle in manner, but lions in fight! 'I've Mangerton, Ogilvie, Raeburn, and Netherbie, Old Sim of Whitram, and all his array; Come, all Northumberland, Teesdale and Cumberland, Here at the Breaken tower end shall the fray.' Scowl'd the broad sun o'er the links of green Liddisdale, Red as the beacon-light tipp'd he the wold; Many a bold martial eye, Mirror'd that morning sky, Never more oped on his orbit of gold! Shrill was the bugle's note! dreadful the warriors' shout! Lances and halberds in splinters were borne; Helmet and hauberk then Braved the claymore in vain, Buckler and armlet in shivers were shorn. |