Ochil Idylls and Other Poems by Hugh Haliburton [i.e. J. L. Robertson] |
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THE ANCIENT CASTLE OF BA'VAIRD. |
 | Ochil Idylls and Other Poems |  |
138
THE ANCIENT CASTLE OF BA'VAIRD.
Who is to-day its real laird,
Who was, in ages long ago,
This ancient castle's, 'clept Ba'vaird,
I neither know, nor care to know.
But lately—Fortune will'd it so—
A pair of lovers, newly pair'd,
As up Glenfarg they chanced to go,
By chance to that old castle fared.
Who was, in ages long ago,
This ancient castle's, 'clept Ba'vaird,
I neither know, nor care to know.
But lately—Fortune will'd it so—
A pair of lovers, newly pair'd,
As up Glenfarg they chanced to go,
By chance to that old castle fared.
How sweet the summer eve was air'd
With pink wild-roses, all a-blow,
And larches, long and waving-hair'd,
In many a ridgy terraced row!
The Farg sang humbly far below;
A lark the heav'n of heav'ns dared,—
It drew them, and they chanced to go
To that old castle of Ba'vaird.
With pink wild-roses, all a-blow,
And larches, long and waving-hair'd,
In many a ridgy terraced row!
The Farg sang humbly far below;
A lark the heav'n of heav'ns dared,—
It drew them, and they chanced to go
To that old castle of Ba'vaird.
They rose to where the hills are bared
To breezes from the north that blow;
By then the soaring lark was lair'd,
The golden sun was set, and lo!
As in a balance rising slow,
The pallid moon came up, and stared,
As if two lovers were a show
Near that old castle of Ba'vaird.
To breezes from the north that blow;
By then the soaring lark was lair'd,
The golden sun was set, and lo!
139
The pallid moon came up, and stared,
As if two lovers were a show
Near that old castle of Ba'vaird.
Its frown the castle might have spared,
The moon her wonder; they would go,
This pair of lovers, newly pair'd,
And find or force a welcome! So—
“Down draw bridge, grooms! What, warder, ho!
Raise the portcullis! By my beard
The slumbering sentinels shall know
He comes, the master of Ba'vaird!”
The moon her wonder; they would go,
This pair of lovers, newly pair'd,
And find or force a welcome! So—
“Down draw bridge, grooms! What, warder, ho!
Raise the portcullis! By my beard
The slumbering sentinels shall know
He comes, the master of Ba'vaird!”
The lady, nestling closer, shared
The cloak that round them twain did go,
And thus the castle's frown they dared
And scaled the battlements—when lo!
Outflash'd the moon with magic glow,
And on the instant they were laird
And lady, living long ago,
In their strong castle of Ba'vaird!
The cloak that round them twain did go,
And thus the castle's frown they dared
And scaled the battlements—when lo!
Outflash'd the moon with magic glow,
And on the instant they were laird
And lady, living long ago,
In their strong castle of Ba'vaird!
| Ochil Idylls and Other Poems | |