Minstrelsy of the Scottish border - National Library of Scotland

THE SCOTTISH BORDER. 141
Rude Border Chiefs, of mighty name,
And iron soul, who sternly tore
The blossoms from the tree of fame.
And purpled deep their tints with gore,
Rush from brown ruins, scai'r'd with age.
That froAvn o'er haunted Hermitage ;
Where, long by spells mysterious bound,
They pace their round, with lifeless smile.
And shake, with restless foot, the guilty pile,
Till sink the mouldering towers beneath the burdenM ground.
Sliades of the dead ! on Alfer'^s plain
Who scorned with backward step to move.
But struggling 'mid the hills of slain.
Against the Sacred Standard strove
Amid the lanes of war I trace
Each broad claymore and ponderous mace :
Where'er the surge of arms is tost.
Your glittering spears, in close array.
Sweep, like the spider's filmy web, away
The flower of Norman-pride, and England's victor host.
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