Page:Down the burn Davie.pdf/7

7 When reposing that night on my pallet of straw

By the wolf-scaring faggot that guarded the slain,

At the of the night a sweet vision I saw,

And, ere the cock crew, I dreamt it again.

Methought, from the battle-field's dreadful array,

Far far I had roam'd on a desolate tract,

Till nature and sunshine disclos'd the sweet way,

To the house of my father, who welcom'd me back.

I flew to the pleasant field, travers'd so oft

In life's morning watch, when my bosom was young:

I heard my own mountain-goats bleating aloft,

And knew the sweet strain that the corn-reapers sung.

Then pledg'd we the wine-cup,—and fondly I swore,

From my home and my weeping friends never to part; My little ones kiss'd me a thousand times o'er,

And my wife sobb'd aloud in of heart—

Stay, stay with us, rest-thou art weary and worn!

And fain was the war-broken soldier to stay;

But sorrow return'd with the dawning of morn,

And the voice in my dreaming ear melted away.