Page:Old Scots tragical song of Sir James the Rose (1).pdf/8

 Till through his enemy's heart the steel

Had forced a mortal wound.

Graeme, like a tree by wind o'erthrown,

Fell breathless on the clay!

And down beside him sank the Rose,

And faint and dying lay.

Matilda saw, and fast she ran;

O spare his life she cried;

Lord Buchan's daughter begs his life,

Let her not be denied.

Her well known voice the hero heard,

He rais'd his death—clos'd eyes:

He fix'd them on the weeping maid,

And weakly thus replies:

In vain Matilda begs a life,

By death's arrest denied;

My race is run—adicu my love;

Then clos'd his eyes and died.

The sword yet warm from his left side,

With frantic hand she drew;

I come, Sir James the Rose, she cried,

I come to follow.

The hilt she lean'd against the ground,

And bar'd her snowy breast;

Then fell upon her lover's face,

And sunk to endless rest.