Page:Sir James the Rose (1).pdf/8

8 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 raised his death-closed eyes;

He fixed them on the weeping maid,

And weakly thus replies:

In vain Matilda begs a life,

By death's arrest denied;

My race is run—adieu my love—

Then closed 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 you!

The hilt she leaned against the ground,

And bared her snowy breast;

Then fell upon her lover's face,

And sunk to endless rest.

✷It is believed on good authority that Lady Matilda and Sir James were both interred in the same grave in the Burial-ground attached to the Abbey of Deer, and which now forms part of the estate of Pitfour, East Aberdeenshire.