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] |
 |
 | The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd |  |
Orion up his baldrick drew,
The evening star was still in view;
Scarce had the Pleiads cleared the main,
Or Charles reyoked his golden wain,
When from the palace-turrets rang
The bugle's note with warning clang:
Each tower, each spire, in music spake,
“Haste, nobles, to Queen Mary's Wake.”
The blooming maid ran to bedight,
In spangled lace, and robe of white,—
That graceful emblem of her youth,
Of guileless heart, and maiden truth.
The matron decked her candid frame
In moony brooch, and silk of flame;
And every earl and baron bold
Sparkled in clasp and loop of gold.
'Twas the last night of hope and fear,
That bards could sing, or Sovereign hear;
And just ere rose the Christmas sun,
The envied prize was lost or won.
The evening star was still in view;
Scarce had the Pleiads cleared the main,
Or Charles reyoked his golden wain,
When from the palace-turrets rang
The bugle's note with warning clang:
Each tower, each spire, in music spake,
“Haste, nobles, to Queen Mary's Wake.”
The blooming maid ran to bedight,
In spangled lace, and robe of white,—
That graceful emblem of her youth,
Of guileless heart, and maiden truth.
The matron decked her candid frame
In moony brooch, and silk of flame;
And every earl and baron bold
Sparkled in clasp and loop of gold.
'Twas the last night of hope and fear,
That bards could sing, or Sovereign hear;
And just ere rose the Christmas sun,
The envied prize was lost or won.
| The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd | |