Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/155

 130 ABBOTSFORD.

5 T was but a mournful sight to see

Trim Abbotsford so gay, The rose-trees flaunting there so bold, The ripening fruits in rind of gold,

And thou, their lord, away. There stood the lamp, with oil unspent, O er which thy thoughtful brow was bent,

When erst with magic skill Unearthly beings heard thy call, And buried ages thronged the hall,

Obedient to thy will. This fair domain was all thine own, From towering rock to threshold stone ;

Yet didst thou lavish pay The coin that caused life s wheels to stop, The heart s blood oozing, drop by drop,

Through the tired brain away ?

I said thy lamp unspent was there, Thy books arranged in order fair, But none of all thy kindred race Found in those lordly halls a place. Thine only son in foreign lands Led bravely on his martial bands, And stranger lips, unmoved and cold, The legends of thy mansion told, They lauded glittering brand and spear, And costly gift from prince and peer, And broad claymore, with silver dight,

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