When o'er her mellow notes he ran, A gleam of native energy. Did David. THE TENTH BARD'S SONG. Old David rose ere it was day, And climbed old Wonfell's wizard brae; An outlaw from the south he came, His native land had used him ill, As fixed he stood, in sullen scorn, Regardless of the streaks of morn, A fairy band come riding on. ) But when the bard himself appeared, The ladies smiled, the courtiers sneered; For such a simple air and mien Before a court had never been. A clown he was, bred in the wild, For poverty to earn regard ! His coat was bare, his colour wan, His forest doublet darned and torn, Yet dear the symbols to his eye, The bard on Ettrick's mountain green In Nature's bosom nursed had been, And oft had marked in forest lone Her beauties on her mountain throne; Had seen her deck the wild-wood tree, Instead of Ocean's billowy pride, Where monsters play and navies ride, Oft thrilled his heart at close of even, With many a mountain, moor, and tree, Asleep upon the Saint Mary; The pilot swan majestic wind, So softly sail, and swiftly row, Instead of war's unhallowed form, His eye had seen the thunder-storm The sheeted flame and sounding rain, And by the bolts in thunder borne, The heaven's own breast and mountain torn; The wild roe from the forest driven; The oaks of ages peeled and riven; Impending oceans whirl and boil, Convulsed by Nature's grand turmoil. Instead of arms or golden crest, His harp with mimic flowers was drest: The briar-rose and the heather bell; Natura Donum graved above. When o'er her mellow notes he ran, And his wild mountain chaunt began, Then first was noted in his eye, A gleam of native energy. Did David. THE TENTH BARD'S SONG. Old David rose ere it was day, And climbed old Wonfell's wizard brae; An outlaw from the south he came, As fixed he stood, in sullen scorn, Regardless of the streaks of morn, Old David spied, on Wonfell cone, A fairy band come riding on. |