The Widow Of Glencoe Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDEDFGHGIJFJKLAL MNON APAPQRRRRRSRTRURTJSP QVPVETWTTJPJXTTTYZSZ A2B2C2A2QTTTD2TD2TRR E2RPD2PD2TF2D2F2PD2P D2D2TRTE2G2RG2A2A2KR D2A2A2D2RD2TF2PF2A2G 2D2G2TD2TD2D2H2A2A2D 2E2A2E2A2TI2TTTPTA2A 2A2A2A2A2TA2

Do not lift him from the brackenA
Leave him lying where he fellB
Better bier ye cannot fashionA
None beseems him half so wellB
As the bare and broken heatherC
And the hard and trampled sodD
Whence his angry soul ascendedE
To the judgment seat of GodD
Winding sheet we cannot give himF
Seek no mantle for the deadG
Save the cold and spotless coveringH
Showered from heaven upon his headG
Leave his broadsword as we found itI
Bent and broken with the blowJ
That before he died avenged himF
On the foremost of the foeJ
Leave the blood upon his bosomK
Wash not off that sacred stainL
Let it stiffen on the tartanA
Let his wounds unclosed remainL
Till the day when he shall show themM
At the throne of God on highN
When the murderer and the murderedO
Meet before their Judge's eyeN
-
Nay ye should not weep my childrenA
Leave it to the faint and weakP
Sobs are but a woman's weaponA
Tears befit a maiden's cheekP
Weep not children of MacdonaldQ
Weep not thou his orphan heirR
Not in shame but stainless honourR
Lies thy slaughtered father thereR
Weep not but when years are overR
And thine arm is strong and sureR
And thy foot is swift and steadyS
On the mountain and the muirR
Let thy heart be hard as ironT
And thy wrath as fierce as fireR
Till the hour when vengeance comethU
For the race that slew thy sireR
Till in deep and dark GlenlyonT
Rise a louder shriek of woeJ
Than at midnight from their eyrieS
Scared the eagles of GlencoeP
Louder than the screams that mingledQ
With the howling of the blastV
When the murderer's steel was clashingP
And the fires were rising fastV
When thy noble father boundedE
To the rescue of his menT
And the slogan of our kindredW
Pealed throughout the startled glenT
When the herd of frantic womenT
Stumbled through the midnight snowJ
With their fathers' houses blazingP
And their dearest dead belowJ
Oh the horror of the tempestX
As the flashing drift was blownT
Crimsoned with the conflagrationT
And the roofs went thundering downT
Oh the prayers the prayers and cursesY
That together winged their flightZ
From the maddened hearts of manyS
Through that long and woeful nightZ
Till the fires began to dwindleA2
And the shots grew faint and fewB2
And we heard the foeman's challengeC2
Only in a far hallooA2
Till the silence once more settledQ
O'er the gorges of the glenT
Broken only by the ConaT
Plunging through its naked denT
Slowly from the mountain summitD2
Was the drifting veil withdrawnT
And the ghastly valley glimmeredD2
In the gray December dawnT
Better had the morning neverR
Dawned upon our dark despairR
Black amidst the common whitenessE2
Rose the spectral ruins thereR
But the sight of these was nothingP
More than wrings the wild dove's breastD2
When she searches for her offspringP
Round the relics of her nestD2
For in many a spot the tartanT
Peered above the wintry heapF2
Marking where a dead MacdonaldD2
Lay within his frozen sleepF2
Tremblingly we scooped the coveringP
From each kindred victim's headD2
And the living lips were burningP
On the cold ones of the deadD2
And I left them with their dearestD2
Dearest charge had everyoneT
Left the maiden with her loverR
Left the mother with her sonT
I alone of all was matelessE2
Far more wretched I than theyG2
For the snow would not discoverR
Where my lord and husband layG2
But I wandered up the valleyA2
Till I found him lying lowA2
With the gash upon his bosomK
And the frown upon his browR
Till I found him lying murderedD2
Where he wooed me long agoA2
Woman's weakness shall not shame meA2
Why should I have tears to shedD2
Could I rain them down like waterR
O my hero on thy headD2
Could the cry of lamentationT
Wake thee from thy silent sleepF2
Could it set thy heart a throbbingP
It were mine to wail and weepF2
But I will not waste my sorrowA2
Lest the Campbell women sayG2
That the daughters of ClanranaldD2
Are as weak and frail as theyG2
I had wept thee hadst thou fallenT
Like our fathers on thy shieldD2
When a host of English foemenT
Camped upon a Scottish fieldD2
I had mourned thee hadst thou perishedD2
With the foremost of his nameH2
When the valiant and the nobleA2
Died around the dauntless Gr meA2
But I will not wrong thee husbandD2
With my unavailing criesE2
Whilst thy cold and mangled bodyA2
Stricken by the traitor liesE2
Whilst he counts the gold and gloryA2
That this hideous night has wonT
And his heart is big with triumphI2
At the murder he has doneT
Other eyes than mine shall glistenT
Other hearts be rent in twainT
Ere the heathbells on thy hillockP
Wither in the autumn rainT
Then I'll seek thee where thou sleepestA2
And I'll veil my weary headA2
Praying for a place beside theeA2
Dearer than my bridal bedA2
And I'll give thee tears my husbandA2
If the tears remain to meA2
When the widows of the foemenT
Cry the coronach for theeA2

William Edmondstoune Aytoun



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