The Lady of the Lake. Walter Scott

As at that simple mute farewell.

       Now with a trusty mountain-guide,

       And his dark stag-hounds by his side,

       He parts—the maid, unconscious still,

       Watched him wind slowly round the hill;

       But when his stately form was hid,

       The guardian in her bosom chid—

       'Thy Malcolm! vain and selfish maid!'

       'T was thus upbraiding conscience said—

       'Not so had Malcolm idly hung

       On the smooth phrase of Southern tongue;

       Not so had Malcolm strained his eye

       Another step than thine to spy.'—

       'Wake, Allan-bane,' aloud she cried

       To the old minstrel by her side—

       'Arouse thee from thy moody dream!

       I 'll give thy harp heroic theme,

       And warm thee with a noble name;

       Pour forth the glory of the Graeme!'

       Scarce from her lip the word had rushed,

       When deep the conscious maiden blushed;

       For of his clan, in hall and bower,

       Young Malcolm Graeme was held the flower.

      VII.

       The minstrel waked his harp—three times

       Arose the well-known martial chimes,

       And thrice their high heroic pride

       In melancholy murmurs died.

       'Vainly thou bidst, O noble maid,'

       Clasping his withered hands, he said,

       'Vainly thou bidst me wake the strain,

       Though all unwont to bid in vain.

       Alas! than mine a mightier hand

       Has tuned my harp, my strings has spanned!

       I touch the chords of joy, but low

       And mournful answer notes of woe;

       And the proud march which victors tread

       Sinks in the wailing for the dead.

       O, well for me, if mine alone

       That dirge's deep prophetic tone!

       If, as my tuneful fathers said,

       This harp, which erst Saint Modan swayed,

       Can thus its master's fate foretell,

       Then welcome be the minstrel's knell.'

      VIII.

       'But ah! dear lady, thus it sighed,

       The eve thy sainted mother died;

       And such the sounds which, while I strove

       To wake a lay of war or love,

       Came marring all the festal mirth,

       Appalling me who gave them birth,

       And, disobedient to my call,

       Wailed loud through Bothwell's bannered hall.

       Ere Douglases, to ruin driven,

       Were exiled from their native heaven.—

       O! if yet worse mishap and woe

       My master's house must undergo,

       Or aught but weal to Ellen fair

       Brood in these accents of despair,

       No future bard, sad Harp! shall fling

       Triumph or rapture from thy string;

       One short, one final strain shall flow,

       Fraught with unutterable woe,

       Then shivered shall thy fragments lie,

       Thy master cast him down and die!'

      IX.

       Soothing she answered him: 'Assuage,

       Mine honored friend, the fears of age;

       All melodies to thee are known

       That harp has rung or pipe has blown,

       In Lowland vale or Highland glen,

       From Tweed to Spey—what marvel, then,

       At times unbidden notes should rise,

       Confusedly bound in memory's ties,

       Entangling, as they rush along,

       The war-march with the funeral song?—

       Small ground is now for boding fear;

       Obscure, but safe, we rest us here.

       My sire, in native virtue great,

       Resigning lordship, lands, and state,

       Not then to fortune more resigned

       Than yonder oak might give the wind;

       The graceful foliage storms may reeve,

       'Fine noble stem they cannot grieve.

       For me'—she stooped, and, looking round,

       Plucked a blue harebell from the ground—

       'For me, whose memory scarce conveys

       An image of more splendid days,

       This little flower that loves the lea

       May well my simple emblem be;

       It drinks heaven's dew as blithe as rose

       That in the King's own garden grows;

       And when I place it in my hair,

       Allan, a bard is bound to swear

       He ne'er saw coronet so fair.'

       Then playfully the chaplet wild

       She wreathed in her dark locks, and smiled.

      X.

       Her smile, her speech, with winning sway

       Wiled the old Harper's mood away.

       With such a look as hermits throw,

       When angels stoop to soothe their woe

       He gazed, till fond regret and pride

       Thrilled to a tear, then thus replied:

       'Loveliest and best! thou little know'st

       The rank, the honors, thou hast lost!

       O. might I live to see thee grace,

       In Scotland's court, thy birthright place,

       To see my favorite's step advance

       The lightest in the courtly dance,

       The cause of every gallant's sigh,

       And leading star of every eye,

       And theme of every minstrel's art,

       The Lady of the Bleeding Heart!'

      XI.

       'Fair dreams are these,' the maiden cried—

       Light was her accent, yet she sighed—

       'Yet is this mossy rock to me

       Worth splendid chair and canopy;

       Nor would my footstep spring more gay

       In courtly dance than blithe strathspey,

       Nor half so pleased mine ear incline

       To royal minstrel's lay as thine.

       And then for suitors proud and high,

       To bend before my conquering eye—

       Thou, flattering bard! thyself wilt say,

       That grim Sir Roderick owns its sway.