Minstrelsy of the Scottish border - National Library of Scotland

Lo !
THE SCOTTISH BOllDER. 139
bursting from their common tomb,
The spirits of the ancient dead
Dimly streak the parted gloom,
With awful faces, ghastly red ;
As once, around their martial king,
They closed the death-devoted ring.
With davmtless hearts, unknown to yield ;
In slow procession round the pile
Of heaving corses, moves each shadowy file.
And chaunts, in solemn strain, the dirge of Flodden field.
What youth, of graceful form and mien,
Foremost leads the spectred brave.
While o''er his mantle"'s folds of green
His amber locks redundant wave ?
When slow returns the fated day,
That view'^d their chieftain's long array,
Wild to the harpy's deep, plaintive string,
The virgins raise the funeral strain.
From Ord's black mountain to the northern main.
And mourn the emerald hue which paints the vest of spring.