Page:The Book of Scottish Song.djvu/273

Rh I heard my mother sing that song,

And then I left our hall;

Ere I returned again, 'twas long,

But death had reft me all.

The wallflower hung on turret strong,

The moss on ruin grey,

And all who sung or heard that song

Were gone—were wede away.

I heard a stranger sing that air—

A little fair-haired child,

With sunny brow that knew no care,

With joyous eye and mild;

She warbled snatches of that strain,

And laughed right joyously;

In after years she may retain

Its memory, like me.

chittering birds, on flicht'ring wing,

About the barn doors mingle,

And biting frost, and cranreuch cauld,

Drive coofs around the ingle;