 | Sonnets Round the Coast |  |
138
XII. SKELTON, THE BIRTHPLACE OF ROBERT BRUCE'S ANCESTORS.
A DREAM OF ROBERT THE BRUCE.
Now know I how the heart of Bruce was stored,Which, ere it rested by the banks of Tweed,
Flung in the fiercest onset, nerved the deed
Of men, who, for its safety, swept the horde
Of Saracens like dust before the sword.
To him this free wide moorland taught its creed,
And those red cliffs would bid him dare to bleed
Rather than own the storm of foes his lord.
He saw the coastward beacons leap and flare—
Himself unto his land would beacon be.
But what strong purpose and persistence do,
Twin deep-run streamlets, did he learn of you;
For, where the hermit joined his hands in prayer,
Ye joined your hands and joyously went free.
| Sonnets Round the Coast | |