The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd Centenary Edition. With a Memoir of the Author, by the Rev. Thomas Thomson ... Poems and Life. With Many Illustrative Engravings [by James Hogg] |
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 | The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd |  |
The strain died soft in note of woe,
Nor breath nor whisper 'gan to flow
From courtly circle; all was still
As midnight on the lonely hill.
So well that foreign minstrel's strain
Had mimicked passion, woe, and pain,
Seemed even the chilly hand of death
Stealing away his mellow breath.
So sighed—so stopped—so died his lay,—
His spirit too seemed fled for aye.
Nor breath nor whisper 'gan to flow
From courtly circle; all was still
As midnight on the lonely hill.
So well that foreign minstrel's strain
Had mimicked passion, woe, and pain,
Seemed even the chilly hand of death
Stealing away his mellow breath.
So sighed—so stopped—so died his lay,—
His spirit too seemed fled for aye.
| The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd | |