The Lady Of The Lake - Canto Third Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCCDCDD EFEFFGFGG FFHHIIJJ KKLLMMCNOPP JJQQRRSSTTUVWWFLXXYY P ZZA2A2B2B2SSC2BD2D2E 2E2F2F2G2G2BC2H2H2SS G I2I2LL P J2J2LLLLK2K2QQLLJJL2 L2M2N2O2O2RRMMSSP2P2 KKJJ P H2H2IIQ2Q2R2R2JJC2C2 JJS2S2JJH2H2JJQ2Q2LL P JJT2T2H2H2U2U2JJI2I2 JJJJV2V2W2W2JJJJLLX2 X2LL P Q2Q2JJJJU2U2SSJJPPY2 Y2PPQ2Q2 H2 JJJJX2JJJJ Q2Q2Q2Q2X2H2H2H2H2 JJZ2B H2 EEV2V2SSSJJA3A3A3A3X 2V2V2V2V2 B3B3B3B3X2JJJJ PPPX2 H2 JJJJJJJJJJJJLLJJH2H2 I2I2Q2Q2JJLL H2 Q2Q2PPJ H2H2C3X2JJB3B3JJJJ H2 JJJJJJH2H2JJY2Y2C3C3 A3A3C3C3H2H2JJ P H2H2LLH2H2JJJJI2I2JJ D3D3H2H2A3A3A3A3Y2Y2 JJ P JJLLLLA3A3R2R2A3A3H2 H2A3A3A3A3PPJJ P X2 LJLJQ2A3Q2A3 A3A3A3A3Q2JQ2J A3A3A3A3LA3LA3 P JJR2JH2H2JJA3A3R2R2J JJ P LLJJPA3JJL A3A3JJJJH2H2A3A3PA3L LR2C3LLJJJ R2R2JJA3PA3A3H2H2 H2 A3A3JJPPR2R2LLE3F3R2 PA3A3JJPPA3A3PPJJJJP PX2X2V2V2A3A3PPJJH2H 2JJJJA3A3 H2 JJH2H2JJJJJ JJJH2H2JJJJR2R2 H2 JJA3A3Q2Q2I2I2JJLLV2 V2H2H2Q2Q2JJR2R2Q2Q2 H2 Q2 JJJA3JJJA3 C3C3C3A3A3A3C3A3 JJJA3H2H2H2A3 A3 H2H2Q2Q2A3A3A3A3R2R2 H2H2JJV2V2JJC3A3LLJJ Q2Q2JJLLJJ A3 D3LI2I2H2H2JJLLR2PA3 A3JJJJR2R2Q2Q2A3A3 A3 JJJJQ2Q2JJJJJJLLPJR2 R2Q2Q2Q2Q2R2R2Q2Q2A3 A3JJJJH2H2 A3 Q2Q2A3LA3A3A3A3R2A3A 3JJJJQ2Q2JJJLLLLJJJJ A3 R2R2JJLLA3A3JJA3A3JJ LLA3A3H2H2LLLH2H2H2 H2 L JA3JA3A3JA3JA3 JA3JA3A3JA3JA3 JA3JA3A3JA3JA3 H2 LLJJLLJ A3A3JJJJA3A3JJA3A3 H2 JJJJLLLLJJJO2O2JJR2R 2LL

The Gathering	A
	-
	-
I	-
	-
Time rolls his ceaseless course The race of yore	B
Who danced our infancy upon their knee	C
And told our marvelling boyhood legends store	B
Of their strange ventures happed by land or sea	C
How are they blotted from the things that be	C
How few all weak and withered of their force	D
Wait on the verge of dark eternity	C
Like stranded wrecks the tide returning hoarse	D
To sweep them from out sight Time rolls his ceaseless course	D
	-
Yet live there still who can remember well	E
How when a mountain chief his bugle blew	F
Both field and forest dingle cliff and dell	E
And solitary heath the signal knew	F
And fast the faithful clan around him drew	F
What time the warning note was keenly wound	G
What time aloft their kindred banner flew	F
While clamorous war pipes yelled the gathering sound	G
And while the Fiery Cross glanced like a meteor round	G
	-
	-
II	-
	-
The Summer dawn's reflected hue	F
To purple changed Loch Katrine blue	F
Mildly and soft the western breeze	H
Just kissed the lake just stirred the trees	H
And the pleased lake like maiden coy	I
Trembled but dimpled not for joy	I
The mountain shadows on her breast	J
Were neither broken nor at rest	J
In bright uncertainty they lie	-
Like future joys to Fancy's eye	-
The water lily to the light	K
Her chalice reared of silver bright	K
The doe awoke and to the lawn	L
Begemmed with dew drops led her fawn	L
The gray mist left the mountain side	M
The torrent showed its glistening pride	M
Invisible in flecked sky The lark sent clown her revelry	C
The blackbird and the speckled thrush	N
Good morrow gave from brake and bush	O
In answer cooed the cushat dove	P
Her notes of peace and rest and love	P
	-
	-
III	-
	-
No thought of peace no thought of rest	J
Assuaged the storm in Roderick's breast	J
With sheathed broadsword in his hand	Q
Abrupt he paced the islet strand	Q
And eyed the rising sun and laid	R
His hand on his impatient blade	R
Beneath a rock his vassals' care	S
Was prompt the ritual to prepare	S
With deep and deathful meaning fraught	T
For such Antiquity had taught	T
Was preface meet ere yet abroad	U
The Cross of Fire should take its road	V
The shrinking band stood oft aghast	W
At the impatient glance he cast	W
Such glance the mountain eagle threw	F
As from the cliffs of Benvenue	L
She spread her dark sails on the wind	X
And high in middle heaven reclined	X
With her broad shadow on the lake	Y
Silenced the warblers of the brake	Y
	-
	-
IV	P
	-
A heap of withered boughs was piled	Z
Of juniper and rowan wild	Z
Mingled with shivers from the oak	A2
Rent by the lightning's recent stroke	A2
Brian the Hermit by it stood	B2
Barefooted in his frock and hood	B2
His grizzled beard and matted hair	S
Obscured a visage of despair	S
His naked arms and legs seamed o'er	C2
The scars of frantic penance bore	B
That monk of savage form and face	D2
The impending danger of his race	D2
Had drawn from deepest solitude	E2
Far in Benharrow's bosom rude	E2
Not his the mien of Christian priest	F2
But Druid's from the grave released	F2
Whose hardened heart and eye might brook	G2
On human sacrifice to look	G2
And much 't was said of heathen lore	B
Mixed in the charms he muttered o'er	C2
The hallowed creed gave only worse	H2
And deadlier emphasis of curse	H2
No peasant sought that Hermit's prayer	S
His cave the pilgrim shunned with care	S
The eager huntsman knew his bound	G
And in mid chase called off his hound '	-
Or if in lonely glen or strath	I2
The desert dweller met his path	I2
He prayed and signed the cross between	L
While terror took devotion's mien	L
	-
	-
V	P
	-
Of Brian's birth strange tales were told	J2
His mother watched a midnight fold	J2
Built deep within a dreary glen	L
Where scattered lay the bones of men	L
In some forgotten battle slain	L
And bleached by drifting wind and rain	L
It might have tamed a warrior's heart	K2
To view such mockery of his art	K2
The knot grass fettered there the hand	Q
Which once could burst an iron band	Q
Beneath the broad and ample bone	L
That bucklered heart to fear unknown	L
A feeble and a timorous guest	J
The fieldfare framed her lowly nest	J
There the slow blindworm left his slime	L2
On the fleet limbs that mocked at time	L2
And there too lay the leader's skull	M2
Still wreathed with chaplet flushed and full	N2
For heath bell with her purple bloom	O2
Supplied the bonnet and the plume	O2
All night in this sad glen the maid	R
Sat shrouded in her mantle's shade	R
She said no shepherd sought her side	M
No hunter's hand her snood untied	M
Yet ne'er again to braid her hair	S
The virgin snood did Alive wear	S
Gone was her maiden glee and sport	P2
Her maiden girdle all too short	P2
Nor sought she from that fatal night	K
Or holy church or blessed rite	K
But locked her secret in her breast	J
And died in travail unconfessed	J
	-
	-
VI	P
	-
Alone among his young compeers	H2
Was Brian from his infant years	H2
A moody and heart broken boy	I
Estranged from sympathy and joy	I
Bearing each taunt which careless tongue	Q2
On his mysterious lineage flung	Q2
Whole nights he spent by moonlight pale	R2
To wood and stream his teal to wail	R2
Till frantic he as truth received	J
What of his birth the crowd believed	J
And sought in mist and meteor fire	C2
To meet and know his Phantom Sire	C2
In vain to soothe his wayward fate	J
The cloister oped her pitying gate	J
In vain the learning of the age	S2
Unclasped the sable lettered page	S2
Even in its treasures he could find	J
Food for the fever of his mind	J
Eager he read whatever tells	H2
Of magic cabala and spells	H2
And every dark pursuit allied	J
To curious and presumptuous pride	J
Till with fired brain and nerves o'erstrung	Q2
And heart with mystic horrors wrung	Q2
Desperate he sought Benharrow's den	L
And hid him from the haunts of men	L
	-
	-
VII	P
	-
The desert gave him visions wild	J
Such as might suit the spectre's child	J
Where with black cliffs the torrents toil	T2
He watched the wheeling eddies boil	T2
Jill from their foam his dazzled eyes	H2
Beheld the River Demon rise	H2
The mountain mist took form and limb	U2
Of noontide hag or goblin grim	U2
The midnight wind came wild and dread	J
Swelled with the voices of the dead	J
Far on the future battle heath	I2
His eye beheld the ranks of death	I2
Thus the lone Seer from mankind hurled	J
Shaped forth a disembodied world	J
One lingering sympathy of mind	J
Still bound him to the mortal kind	J
The only parent he could claim	V2
Of ancient Alpine's lineage came	V2
Late had he heard in prophet's dream	W2
The fatal Ben Shie's boding scream	W2
Sounds too had come in midnight blast	J
Of charging steeds careering fast	J
Along Benharrow's shingly side	J
Where mortal horseman ne'er might ride	J
The thunderbolt had split the pine	L
All augured ill to Alpine's line	L
He girt his loins and came to show	X2
The signals of impending woe	X2
And now stood prompt to bless or ban	L
As bade the Chieftain of his clan	L
	-
	-
VIII	P
	-
'T was all prepared and from the rock	Q2
A goat the patriarch of the flock	Q2
Before the kindling pile was laid	J
And pierced by Roderick's ready blade	J
Patient the sickening victim eyed	J
The life blood ebb in crimson tide	J
Down his clogged beard and shaggy limb	U2
Till darkness glazed his eyeballs dim	U2
The grisly priest with murmuring prayer	S
A slender crosslet framed with care	S
A cubit's length in measure due	J
The shaft and limbs were rods of yew	J
Whose parents in Inch Cailliach wave	P
Their shadows o'er Clan Alpine's grave	P
And answering Lomond's breezes deep	Y2
Soothe many a chieftain's endless sleep	Y2
The Cross thus formed he held on high	P
With wasted hand and haggard eye	P
And strange and mingled feelings woke	Q2
While his anathema he spoke	Q2
	-
	-
IX	H2
	-
'Woe to the clansman who shall view	J
This symbol of sepulchral yew	J
Forgetful that its branches grew	J
Where weep the heavens their holiest dew	J
On Alpine's dwelling low	X2
Deserter of his Chieftain's trust	J
He ne'er shall mingle with their dust	J
But from his sires and kindred thrust	J
Each clansman's execration just	J
Shall doom him wrath and woe '	-
He paused the word the vassals took	Q2
With forward step and fiery look	Q2
On high their naked brands they shook	Q2
Their clattering targets wildly strook	Q2
And first in murmur low	X2
Then like the billow in his course	H2
That far to seaward finds his source	H2
And flings to shore his mustered force	H2
Burst with loud roar their answer hoarse	H2
'Woe to the traitor woe '	-
Ben an's gray scalp the accents knew	J
The joyous wolf from covert drew	J
The exulting eagle screamed afar	Z2
They knew the voice of Alpine's war	B
	-
	-
X	H2
	-
The shout was hushed on lake and fell	E
The Monk resumed his muttered spell	E
Dismal and low its accents came	V2
The while he scathed the Cross with flame	V2
And the few words that reached the air	S
Although the holiest name was there	S
Had more of blasphemy than prayer	S
But when he shook above the crowd	J
Its kindled points he spoke aloud	J
'Woe to the wretch who fails to rear	A3
At this dread sign the ready spear	A3
For as the flames this symbol sear	A3
His home the refuge of his fear	A3
A kindred fate shall know	X2
Far o'er its roof the volumed flame	V2
Clan Alpine's vengeance shall proclaim	V2
While maids and matrons on his name	V2
Shall call down wretchedness and shame	V2
And infamy and woe '	-
Then rose the cry of females shrill	B3
As goshawk's whistle on the hill	B3
Denouncing misery and ill	B3
Mingled with childhood's babbling trill	B3
Of curses stammered slow	X2
Answering with imprecation dread	J
'Sunk be his home in embers red	J
And cursed be the meanest shed	J
That o'er shall hide the houseless head	J
We doom to want and woe '	-
A sharp and shrieking echo gave	P
Coir Uriskin thy goblin cave	P
And the gray pass where birches wave	P
On Beala nam bo	X2
	-
	-
XI	H2
	-
Then deeper paused the priest anew	J
And hard his laboring breath he drew	J
While with set teeth and clenched hand	J
And eyes that glowed like fiery brand	J
He meditated curse more dread	J
And deadlier on the clansman's head	J
Who summoned to his chieftain's aid	J
The signal saw and disobeyed	J
The crosslet's points of sparkling wood	J
He quenched among the bubbling blood	J
And as again the sign he reared	J
Hollow and hoarse his voice was heard	J
'When flits this Cross from man to man	L
Vich Alpine's summons to his clan	L
Burst be the ear that fails to heed	J
Palsied the foot that shuns to speed	J
May ravens tear the careless eyes	H2
Wolves make the coward heart their prize	H2
As sinks that blood stream in the earth	I2
So may his heart's blood drench his hearth	I2
As dies in hissing gore the spark	Q2
Quench thou his light Destruction dark	Q2
And be the grace to him denied	J
Bought by this sign to all beside	J
He ceased no echo gave again	L
The murmur of the deep Amen	L
	-
	-
XII	H2
	-
Then Roderick with impatient look	Q2
From Brian's hand the symbol took	Q2
'Speed Malise speed' he said and gave	P
The crosslet to his henchman brave	P
'The muster place be Lanrick mead	J
Instant the time speed Malise speed '	-
Like heath bird when the hawks pursue	H2
A barge across Loch Katrine flew	H2
High stood the henchman on the prow	C3
So rapidly the barge mall row	X2
The bubbles where they launched the boat	J
Were all unbroken and afloat	J
Dancing in foam and ripple still	B3
When it had neared the mainland hill	B3
And from the silver beach's side	J
Still was the prow three fathom wide	J
When lightly bounded to the land	J
The messenger of blood and brand	J
	-
	-
XIII	H2
	-
Speed Malise speed the dun deer's hide	J
On fleeter foot was never tied	J
Speed Malise speed such cause of haste	J
Thine active sinews never braced	J
Bend 'gainst the steepy hill thy breast	J
Burst down like torrent from its crest	J
With short and springing footstep pass	H2
The trembling bog and false morass	H2
Across the brook like roebuck bound	J
And thread the brake like questing hound	J
The crag is high the scaur is deep	Y2
Yet shrink not from the desperate leap	Y2
Parched are thy burning lips and brow	C3
Yet by the fountain pause not now	C3
Herald of battle fate and fear	A3
Stretch onward in thy fleet career	A3
The wounded hind thou track'st not now	C3
Pursuest not maid through greenwood bough	C3
Nor priest thou now thy flying pace	H2
With rivals in the mountain race	H2
But danger death and warrior deed	J
Are in thy course speed Malise speed	J
	-
	-
XIV	P
	-
Fast as the fatal symbol flies	H2
In arms the huts and hamlets rise	H2
From winding glen from upland brown	L
They poured each hardy tenant down	L
Nor slacked the messenger his pace	H2
He showed the sign he named the place	H2
And pressing forward like the wind	J
Left clamor and surprise behind	J
The fisherman forsook the strand	J
The swarthy smith took dirk and brand	J
With changed cheer the mower blithe	I2
Left in the half cut swath his scythe	I2
The herds without a keeper strayed	J
The plough was in mid furrow staved	J
The falconer tossed his hawk away	D3
The hunter left the stag at hay	D3
Prompt at the signal of alarms	H2
Each son of Alpine rushed to arms	H2
So swept the tumult and affray	A3
Along the margin of Achray	A3
Alas thou lovely lake that e'er	A3
Thy banks should echo sounds of fear	A3
The rocks the bosky thickets sleep	Y2
So stilly on thy bosom deep	Y2
The lark's blithe carol from the cloud	J
Seems for the scene too gayly loud	J
	-
	-
XV	P
	-
Speed Malise speed The lake is past	J
Duncraggan's huts appear at last	J
And peep like moss grown rocks half seen	L
Half hidden in the copse so green	L
There mayst thou rest thy labor done	L
Their lord shall speed the signal on	L
As stoops the hawk upon his prey	A3
The henchman shot him down the way	A3
What woful accents load the gale	R2
The funeral yell the female wail	R2
A gallant hunter's sport is o'er	A3
A valiant warrior fights no more	A3
Who in the battle or the chase	H2
At Roderick's side shall fill his place	H2
Within the hall where torch's ray	A3
Supplies the excluded beams of day	A3
Lies Duncan on his lowly bier	A3
And o'er him streams his widow's tear	A3
His stripling son stands mournful by	P
His youngest weeps but knows not why	P
The village maids and matrons round	J
The dismal coronach resound	J
	-
	-
XVI	P
	-
Coronach	X2
	-
He is gone on the mountain	L
He is lost to the forest	J
Like a summer dried fountain	L
When our need was the sorest	J
The font reappearing	Q2
From the rain drops shall borrow	A3
But to us comes no cheering	Q2
To Duncan no morrow	A3
	-
The hand of the reaper	A3
Takes the ears that are hoary	A3
But the voice of the weeper	A3
Wails manhood in glory	A3
The autumn winds rushing	Q2
Waft the leaves that are searest	J
But our flower was in flushing	Q2
When blighting was nearest	J
	-
Fleet foot on the correi	A3
Sage counsel in cumber	A3
Red hand in the foray	A3
How sound is thy slumber	A3
Like the dew on the mountain	L
Like the foam on the river	A3
Like the bubble on the fountain	L
Thou art gone and forever	A3
	-
	-
XVII	P
	-
See Stumah who the bier beside	J
His master's corpse with wonder eyed	J
Poor Stumah whom his least halloo	R2
Could send like lightning o'er the dew	J
Bristles his crest and points his ears	H2
As if some stranger step he hears	H2
'T is not a mourner's muffled tread	J
Who comes to sorrow o'er the dead	J
But headlong haste or deadly fear	A3
Urge the precipitate career	A3
All stand aghast unheeding all	R2
The henchman bursts into the hall	R2
Before the dead man's bier he stood	J
Held forth the Cross besmeared with blood	J
'The muster place is Lanrick mead	J
Speed forth the signal clansmen speed '	-
	-
	-
XVIII	P
	-
Angus the heir of Duncan's line	L
Sprung forth and seized the fatal sign	L
In haste the stripling to his side	J
His father's dirk and broadsword tied	J
But when he saw his mother's eye	P
Watch him in speechless agony	A3
Back to her opened arms he flew	J
Pressed on her lips a fond adieu	J
'Alas' she sobbed 'and yet be gone	L
And speed thee forth like Duncan's son '	-
One look he cast upon the bier	A3
Dashed from his eye the gathering tear	A3
Breathed deep to clear his laboring breast	J
And tossed aloft his bonnet crest	J
Then like the high bred colt when freed	J
First he essays his fire and speed	J
He vanished and o'er moor and moss	H2
Sped forward with the Fiery Cross	H2
Suspended was the widow's tear	A3
While yet his footsteps she could hear	A3
And when she marked the henchman's eye	P
Wet with unwonted sympathy	A3
'Kinsman ' she said 'his race is run	L
That should have sped thine errand on	L
The oak teas fallen the sapling bough Is all	R2
Duncraggan's shelter now	C3
Yet trust I well his duty done	L
The orphan's God will guard my son	L
And you in many a danger true	J
At Duncan's hest your blades that drew	J
To arms and guard that orphan's head	J
Let babes and women wail the dead '	-
Then weapon clang and martial call	R2
Resounded through the funeral hall	R2
While from the walls the attendant band	J
Snatched sword and targe with hurried hand	J
And short and flitting energy	A3
Glanced from the mourner's sunken eye	P
As if the sounds to warrior dear	A3
Might rouse her Duncan from his bier	A3
But faded soon that borrowed force	H2
Grief claimed his right and tears their course	H2
	-
	-
XIX	H2
	-
Benledi saw the Cross of Fire	A3
It glanced like lightning up Strath Ire	A3
O'er dale and hill the summons flew	J
Nor rest nor pause young Angus knew	J
The tear that gathered in his eye	P
He deft the mountain breeze to dry	P
Until where Teith's young waters roll	R2
Betwixt him and a wooded knoll	R2
That graced the sable strath with green	L
The chapel of Saint Bride was seen	L
Swoln was the stream remote the bridge	E3
But Angus paused not on the edge	F3
Though the clerk waves danced dizzily	R2
Though reeled his sympathetic eye	P
He dashed amid the torrent's roar	A3
His right hand high the crosslet bore	A3
His left the pole axe grasped to guide	J
And stay his footing in the tide	J
He stumbled twice the foam splashed high	P
With hoarser swell the stream raced by	P
And had he fallen forever there	A3
Farewell Duncraggan's orphan heir	A3
But still as if in parting life	P
Firmer he grasped the Cross of strife	P
Until the opposing bank he gained	J
And up the chapel pathway strained	J
A blithesome rout that morning tide	J
Had sought the chapel of Saint Bride	J
Her troth Tombea's Mary gave	P
To Norman heir of Armandave	P
And issuing from the Gothic arch	X2
The bridal now resumed their march	X2
In rude but glad procession came	V2
Bonneted sire and coif clad dame	V2
And plaided youth with jest and jeer	A3
Which snooded maiden would not hear	A3
And children that unwitting why	P
Lent the gay shout their shrilly cry	P
And minstrels that in measures vied	J
Before the young and bonny bride	J
Whose downcast eye and cheek disclose	H2
The tear and blush of morning rose	H2
With virgin step and bashful hand	J
She held the kerchief's snowy band	J
The gallant bridegroom by her side	J
Beheld his prize with victor's pride	J
And the glad mother in her ear	A3
Was closely whispering word of cheer	A3
	-
	-
XXI	H2
	-
Who meets them at the churchyard gate	J
The messenger of fear and fate	J
Haste in his hurried accent lies	H2
And grief is swimming in his eyes	H2
All dripping from the recent flood	J
Panting and travel soiled he stood	J
The fatal sign of fire and sword	J
Held forth and spoke the appointed word	J
'The muster place is Lanrick mead	J
Speed forth the signal Norman speed '	-
And must he change so soon the hand	J
Just linked to his by holy band	J
For the fell Cross of blood and brand	J
And must the day so blithe that rose	H2
And promised rapture in the close	H2
Before its setting hour divide	J
The bridegroom from the plighted bride	J
O fatal doom' it must it must	J
Clan Alpine's cause her Chieftain's trust	J
Her summons dread brook no delay	R2
Stretch to the race away away	R2
	-
	-
XXII	H2
	-
Yet slow he laid his plaid aside	J
And lingering eyed his lovely bride	J
Until he saw the starting tear	A3
Speak woe he might not stop to cheer	A3
Then trusting not a second look	Q2
In haste he sped hind up the brook	Q2
Nor backward glanced till on the heath	I2
Where Lubnaig's lake supplies the Teith	I2
What in the racer's bosom stirred	J
The sickening pang of hope deferred	J
And memory with a torturing train	L
Of all his morning visions vain	L
Mingled with love's impatience came	V2
The manly thirst for martial fame	V2
The stormy joy of mountaineers	H2
Ere yet they rush upon the spears	H2
And zeal for Clan and Chieftain burning	Q2
And hope from well fought field returning	Q2
With war's red honors on his crest	J
To clasp his Mary to his breast	J
Stung by such thoughts o'er bank and brae	R2
Like fire from flint he glanced away	R2
While high resolve and feeling strong	Q2
Burst into voluntary song	Q2
	-
	-
XXIII	H2
	-
Song	Q2
	-
The heath this night must be my bed	J
The bracken curtain for my head	J
My lullaby the warder's tread	J
Far far from love and thee Mary	A3
To morrow eve more stilly laid	J
My couch may be my bloody plaid	J
My vesper song thy wail sweet maid	J
It will not waken me Mary	A3
	-
I may not dare not fancy now	C3
The grief that clouds thy lovely brow	C3
I dare not think upon thy vow	C3
And all it promised me Mary	A3
No fond regret must Norman know	A3
When bursts Clan Alpine on the foe	A3
His heart must be like bended bow	C3
His foot like arrow free Mary	A3
	-
A time will come with feeling fraught	J
For if I fall in battle fought	J
Thy hapless lover's dying thought	J
Shall be a thought on thee Mary	A3
And if returned from conquered foes	H2
How blithely will the evening close	H2
How sweet the linnet sing repose	H2
To my young bride and me Mary	A3
	-
	-
XXIV	A3
	-
Not faster o'er thy heathery braes	H2
Balquidder speeds the midnight blaze	H2
Rushing in conflagration strong	Q2
Thy deep ravines and dells along	Q2
Wrapping thy cliffs in purple glow	A3
And reddening the dark lakes below	A3
Nor faster speeds it nor so far	A3
As o'er thy heaths the voice of war	A3
The signal roused to martial coil	R2
The sullen margin of Loch Voil	R2
Waked still Loch Doine and to the source	H2
Alarmed Balvaig thy swampy course	H2
Thence southward turned its rapid road	J
Adown Strath Gartney's valley broad	J
Till rose in arms each man might claim	V2
A portion in Clan Alpine's name	V2
From the gray sire whose trembling hand	J
Could hardly buckle on his brand	J
To the raw boy whose shaft and bow	C3
Were yet scarce terror to the crow	A3
Each valley each sequestered glen	L
Mustered its little horde of men	L
That met as torrents from the height	J
In Highland dales their streams unite	J
Still gathering as they pour along	Q2
A voice more loud a tide more strong	Q2
Till at the rendezvous they stood	J
By hundreds prompt for blows and blood	J
Each trained to arms since life began	L
Owning no tie but to his clan	L
No oath but by his chieftain's hand	J
No law but Roderick Dhu's command	J
	-
	-
XXV	A3
	-
That summer morn had Roderick Dhu	D3
Surveyed the skirts of Benvenue	L
And sent his scouts o'er hill and heath	I2
To view the frontiers of Menteith	I2
All backward came with news of truce	H2
Still lay each martial Graeme and Bruce	H2
In Rednock courts no horsemen wait	J
No banner waved on Cardross gate	J
On Duchray's towers no beacon shone	L
Nor scared the herons from Loch Con	L
All seemed at peace Now wot ye wily	R2
The Chieftain with such anxious eye	P
Ere to the muster he repair	A3
This western frontier scanned with care	A3
In Benvenue's most darksome cleft	J
A fair though cruel pledge was left	J
For Douglas to his promise true	J
That morning from the isle withdrew	J
And in a deep sequestered dell	R2
Had sought a low and lonely cell	R2
By many a bard in Celtic tongue	Q2
Has Coir nan Uriskin been sung	Q2
A softer name the Saxons gave	A3
And called the grot the Goblin Cave	A3
	-
	-
XXVI	A3
	-
It was a wild and strange retreat	J
As e'er was trod by outlaw's feet	J
The dell upon the mountain's crest	J
Yawned like a gash on warrior's breast	J
Its trench had stayed full many a rock	Q2
Hurled by primeval earthquake shock	Q2
From Benvenue's gray summit wild	J
And here in random ruin piled	J
They frowned incumbent o'er the spot	J
And formed the rugged sylvan rot	J
The oak and birch with mingled shade	J
At noontide there a twilight made	J
Unless when short and sudden shone	L
Some straggling beam on cliff or stone	L
With such a glimpse as prophet's eye	P
Gains on thy depth Futurity	J
No murmur waked the solemn still	R2
Save tinkling of a fountain rill	R2
But when the wind chafed with the lake	Q2
A sullen sound would upward break	Q2
With dashing hollow voice that spoke	Q2
The incessant war of wave and rock	Q2
Suspended cliffs with hideous sway	R2
Seemed nodding o'er the cavern gray	R2
From such a den the wolf had sprung	Q2
In such the wild cat leaves her young	Q2
Yet Douglas and his daughter fair	A3
Sought for a space their safety there	A3
Gray Superstition's whisper dread	J
Debarred the spot to vulgar tread	J
For there she said did fays resort	J
And satyrs hold their sylvan court	J
By moonlight tread their mystic maze	H2
And blast the rash beholder's gaze	H2
	-
	-
XXVII	A3
	-
Now eve with western shadows long	Q2
Floated on Katrine bright and strong	Q2
When Roderick with a chosen few	A3
Repassed the heights of Benvenue	L
Above the Goblin Cave they go	A3
Through the wild pass of Beal nam bo	A3
The prompt retainers speed before	A3
To launch the shallop from the shore	A3
For 'cross Loch Katrine lies his way	R2
To view the passes of Achray	A3
And place his clansmen in array	A3
Yet lags the Chief in musing mind	J
Unwonted sight his men behind	J
A single page to bear his sword	J
Alone attended on his lord	J
The rest their way through thickets break	Q2
And soon await him by the lake	Q2
It was a fair and gallant sight	J
To view them from the neighboring height	J
By the low levelled sunbeam's light	J
For strength and stature from the clan	L
Each warrior was a chosen man	L
As even afar might well be seen	L
By their proud step and martial mien	L
heir feathers dance their tartars float	J
Their targets gleam as by the boat	J
A wild and warlike group they stand	J
That well became such mountain strand	J
	-
	-
XXVI	A3
	-
Their Chief with step reluctant still	R2
Was lingering on the craggy hill	R2
Hard by where turned apart the road	J
To Douglas's obscure abode	J
It was but with that dawning morn	L
That Roderick Dhu had proudly sworn	L
To drown his love in war's wild roar	A3
Nor think of Ellen Douglas more	A3
But he who stems a stream with sand	J
And fetters flame with flaxen band	J
Has yet a harder task to prove	A3
By firm resolve to conquer love	A3
Eve finds the Chief like restless ghost	J
Still hovering near his treasure lost	J
For though his haughty heart deny	L
A parting meeting to his eye	L
Still fondly strains his anxious ear	A3
The accents of her voice to hear	A3
And inly did he curse the breeze	H2
That waked to sound the rustling trees	H2
But hark what mingles in the strain	L
It is the harp of Allan bane	L
That wakes its measure slow and high	L
Attuned to sacred minstrelsy	H2
What melting voice attends the strings	H2
'Tis Ellen or an angel sings	H2
	-
	-
XXIX	H2
	-
Hymn to the Virgin	L
	-
Ave Maria maiden mild	J
Listen to a maiden's prayer	A3
Thou canst hear though from the wild	J
Thou canst save amid despair	A3
Safe may we sleep beneath thy care	A3
Though banished outcast and reviled	J
Maiden hear a maiden's prayer	A3
Mother hear a suppliant child	J
Ave Maria	A3
	-
Ave Maria undefiled	J
The flinty couch we now must share	A3
Shall seem with down of eider piled	J
If thy protection hover there	A3
The murky cavern's heavy air	A3
Shall breathe of balm if thou hast smiled	J
Then Maiden hear a maiden's prayer	A3
Mother list a suppliant child	J
Ave Maria	A3
	-
Ave Maria stainless styled	J
Foul demons of the earth and air	A3
From this their wonted haunt exiled	J
Shall flee before thy presence fair	A3
We bow us to our lot of care	A3
Beneath thy guidance reconciled	J
Hear for a maid a maiden's prayer	A3
And for a father hear a child	J
Ave Maria	A3
	-
	-
XXX	H2
	-
Died on the harp the closing hymn	L
Unmoved in attitude and limb	L
As listening still Clan Alpine's lord	J
Stood leaning on his heavy sword	J
Until the page with humble sign	L
Twice pointed to the sun's decline	L
Then while his plaid he round him cast	J
'It is the last time 'tis the last '	-
He muttered thrice 'the last time e'er	A3
That angel voice shall Roderick hear''	A3
It was a goading thought his stride	J
Hied hastier down the mountain side	J
Sullen he flung him in the boat	J
An instant 'cross the lake it shot	J
They landed in that silvery bay	A3
And eastward held their hasty way	A3
Till with the latest beams of light	J
The band arrived on Lanrick height'	J
Where mustered in the vale below	A3
Clan Alpine's men in martial show	A3
	-
	-
XXXI	H2
	-
A various scene the clansmen made	J
Some sat some stood some slowly strayed	J
But most with mantles folded round	J
Were couched to rest upon the ground	J
Scarce to be known by curious eye	L
From the deep heather where they lie	L
So well was matched the tartan screen	L
With heath bell dark and brackens green	L
Unless where here and there a blade	J
Or lance's point a glimmer made	J
Like glow worm twinkling through the shade	J
But when advancing through the gloom	O2
They saw the Chieftain's eagle plume	O2
Their shout of welcome shrill and wide	J
Shook the steep mountain's steady side	J
Thrice it arose and lake and fell	R2
Three times returned the martial yell	R2
It died upon Bochastle's plain	L
And Silence claimed her evening reign	L

Walter Scott (sir)

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