Page:Once a Week Volume 7.djvu/330

 322 Lo, a Chief spurs o’er the heather

And the drawbridge falls,

And a stately step is sounding

Through Glenallen’s halls.

Well she knew that haughty footfall—

With a sobbing cry

Stretching wide her arms so wasted—

“Kiss me ere I die!

Fold me fondly to your bosom!

Clasp me closer still!

Let me feel my true-love’s kisses

Tho’ his kiss doth kill!

Tho’ my woes of hope bereft me,

Did my sore heart break?

No! I lived—that bliss was left me—

For thy bairnie’s sake!

Fast my soul is fleeting homeward

From this weary strife—

By the babe that calls ye —

By my ruined life—

Let the stone among the daisies

Bear the name of !

Bring the priest and wed me, Gordon,

If ye love me still!”—

See, his proud, wild heart is heaving

With a softer thrill—

With a pang he kiss’d her white lips—

“By Christ’s love I will!”

When the clans swept down to battle

On Culloden’s day,

Gallant Gordon bravely perish’d,

Foremost in the fray:

With his tartan pierced and bloody

On the muir he lay.

Effie and her babe are resting

From this weary strife,

And the stone among the daisies

Bears the name of.

She hath sinned, and she hath suffered—

Christ absolve her life.