Classic Poem

CANTO I.XIX.
The Lady sought the lofty hall,
Where many a bold retainer lay,
And with jocund din among them all,
Her son pursued his infant play.
A fancied moss-trooper, the boy
The truncheon of a spear bestrode,
And round the hall right merrily
In mimic foray rode.
Even bearded knights, in arms grown old,
Share in his frolic gambols bore,
Albeit their hearts of rugged mould
Were stubborn as the steel they wore.
For the gray warriors prophesied
How the brave boy, in future war,
Should tame the Unicorn's pride,
Exalt the Crescent and the Star.XX.

The Ladye forgot her purpose high
One moment and no more;
One moment gazed with a mother's eye,
As she paused at the arched door:
Then from amid the armed train,
She called to her William of Deloraine.XXI.

A stark moss-trooping Scott was he
As e'er couch'd Border lance by knee:
Through Solway sands, through Tarras moss,
Blindfold he knew the paths to cross;
By wily turns, by desperate bounds,
Had baffled Percy's best blood-hounds;
In Eske or Liddel, fords were none,
But he would ride them, one by one;
Alike to him was time or tide,
December's snow or July's pride;
Alike to him was tide or time,
Moonless midnight or matin prime:
Steady of heart and stout of hand
As ever drove prey from Cumberland;
Five times outlawed had he been
By England's King and Scotland's Queen.XXII.

'Sir William of Deloraine, good at need,
Mount thee on the wightest steed;
Spare not to spur, nor stint to ride,
Until thou come to fair Tweedside;
And in Melrose's holy pile
Seek thou the Monk of St. Mary's aisle.
Greet the father well from me;
Say that the fated hour is come,
And to-night he shall watch with thee,
To win the treasure of the tomb:
For this will be St. Michael's night,
And, though stars be dim, the moon is bright;
And the Cross of bloody red
Will point to the grave of the mighty dead.XXIII

'What he gives thee, see thou keep;
Stay not thou for food or sleep:
Be it scroll or be it book,
Into it, knight, thou must not look;
If thou readest, thou art lorn!
Better hadst thou ne'er been born.'XXIV.
'O swiftly can speed my dapple-gray steed,
Which drinks of the Teviot clear;
Ere break of day,' the warrior 'gan say,
'Again will I be here:
And safer by none may thy errand be done,
Than, noble dame, by me;
Letter nor line know I never a one,
Were't my neck-verse at Hairibee.'XXV.

Soon in his saddle sate he fast,
And soon the steep descent he past,
Soon cross'd the sounding barbican,
And soon the Teviot side he won.
Eastward the wooded path he rode,
Green hazels o'er his basnet nod;
He pass'd the Peel of Goldiland,
And cross'd old Borthwick's roaring strand;
Dimly he view'd the Moat-hill's mound,
Where Druid shades still flitted round:
In Hawick twinkled many a light;
Behind him soon they set in night;
And soon he spurr'd his courser keen
Beneath the tower of Hazeldean.XXVI.

The clattering hoofs the watchmen mark:
'Stand, ho! thou courier of the dark.'
'For Branksome, ho!' the knight rejoin'd,
And left the friendly tower behind.
He turned him now from Teviotside,
And, guided by the tinkling rill,
Northward the dark ascent did ride,
And gained the moor at Horsliehill;
Broad on the left before him lay,
For many a mile, the Roman way.XXVII.

A moment now he slack'd his speed,
A moment breathed his panting steed;
Drew saddle-girth and corslet-band,
And loosen'd in the sheath his brand.
On Minto-crags the moonbeams glint,
Where Barnhill hew'd his bed of flint,
Who flung his outlaw'd limbs to rest
Where falcons hang their giddy nest,
Mid cliffs from whence his eagle eye
For many a league his prey could spy;
Cliffs doubling, on their echoes borne,
The terrors of the robber's horn;
Cliffs, which for many a later year
The warbling Doric reed shall hear,
When some sad swain shall teach the grove,
Ambition is no cure for love.XXVIII.


Unchallenged, thence pass'd Deloraine
To ancient Riddel's fair domain,
Where Aill, from mountains freed,
Down from the lakes did raving come;
Each wave was crested with tawny foam,
Like the mane of a chestnut steed.
In vain! no torrent, deep or broad,
Might bar the bold moss-trooper's road.XXIX.


At the first plunge the horse sunk low,
And the water broke o'er the saddlebow;
Above the foaming tide, I ween,
Scarce half the charger's neck was seen:
For he was barded from counter to tail,
And the rider was armed complete in mail;
Never heavier man and horse
Stemm'd a midnight torrent's force.
The warrior's very plume, I say,
Was daggled by the dashing spray:
Yet, through good heart and Our Ladye's grace,
At length he gain'd the landing-place.XXX


Now Bowden Moor the march-man won,
And sternly shook his plumed head,
As glanced his eye o'er Halidon:
For on his soul the slaughter red
Of that unhallow'd morn arose,
When first the Scott and Carr were foes;
When royal James beheld the fray,
Prize to the victor of the day;
When Home and Douglas in the van
Bore down Buccleuch's retiring clan,
Till gallant Cessford's heart-blood dear
Reek'd on dark Elliot's Border spear.XXXI.


In bitter mood he spurred fast,
And soon the hated heath was past:
And far beneath, in lustre wan,
Old Melros' rose, and fair Tweed ran:
Like some tall rock with lichens gray,
Seem'd dimly huge, the dark Abbaye.
When Hawick he pass'd, had curfew rung,
Now midnight lauds were in Melrose sung.
The sound upon the fitful gale
In solemn wise did rise and fail,
Like that wild harp whose magic tone
Is waken'd by the winds alone.
But when Melrose he reach'd, 'twas silence all:
He meetly stabled his steed in stall,
And sought the convent's lonely wall.CANTO II.I.
If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright,

Go visit it by the pale moonlight;

For the gay beams of lightsome day

Gild, but to flout, the ruins gray.

When the broken arches are black in night,

And each shafted oriel glimmers white;

When the cold light's uncertain shower

Streams on the ruin'd central tower;

When buttress and buttress, alternately,


Seem framed of ebon and ivory;


When silver edges the imagery,


And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die;


When distant Tweed is heard to rave,


And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave,


Then go--but go alone the while--


Then view St. David's ruin'd pile;


And, home returning, soothly swear,


Was never scene so sad and fair!II.

Short halt did Deloraine make there;


Little reck'd he of the scene so fair


With dagger's hilt on the wicket strong


He struck full loud, and struck full long.


The porter hurried to the gate--


'Who knocks so loud, and knocks so late?'


'From Branksome I,' the warrior cried;


And straight the wicket open'd wide:


For Branksome's chiefs had in battle stood


To fence the rights of fair Melrose;


And lands and livings, many a rood


Had gifted the shrine for their souls' repose.III.

Bold Deloraine his errand said;


The porter bent his humble head;


With torch in hand, and feet unshod,


And noiseless step the path he trod;


The arched cloister, far and wide,


Rang to the warrior's clanking stride,


Till, stooping low his lofty crest,


He enter'd the cell of the ancient priest,


And lifted his barred aventayle


To hail the Monk of St. Mary's aisle.IV.

'The Ladye of Branksome greets thee by me;


Says that the fated hour is come,


And that to-night I shall watch with thee,


To win the treasure of the tomb.'


From sackcloth couch the monk arose,


With toil his stiffen'd limbs he rear'd;


A hundred years had flung their snows


On his thin locks and floating beard.V.

And strangely on the knight look'd he,


And his blue eyes gleam'd wild and wide;


'And darest thou, warrior, seek to see


What heaven and hell alike would hide?


My breast in belt of iron pent,


With shirt of hair and scourge of thorn;


For threescore years, in penance spent,


My knees those flinty stones have worn;


Yet all too little to atone


For knowing what should ne'er be known.


Would'st thou thy every future year


In ceaseless prayer and penance drie,


Yet wait thy latter end with fear--


Then, daring warrior, follow me!'VI.

'Penance, father, will I none;


Prayer know I hardly one;


For mass or prayer can I rarely tarry,


Save to patter an Ave Mary,


When I ride on a Border foray.


Other prayer can I none;


So speed me my errand, and let me be gone.'VII.

Again on the knight look'd the churchman old,


And again he sighed heavily;


For he had himself been a warrior bold,


And fought in Spain and Italy.


And he thought on the days that were long since by,


When his limbs were strong, and his courage was high:


Now, slow and faint, he led the way


Where, cloister'd round, the garden lay;


The pillar'd arches were over their head,


And beneath their feet were the bones of the dead,VIII.

Spreading herbs and flowerets bright,


Glisten'd with the dew of night;


Nor herb nor floweret glisten'd there,


But was carved in the cloister-arches as fair.


The monk gazed long on the lovely moon,


Then into the night he looked forth;


And red and bright the streamers light


Were dancing in the glowing north.


So had he seen in fair Castile


The youth in glittering squadrons start;


Sudden the flying jennet wheel,


And hurl the unexpected dart.


He knew, by the streamers that shot so bright,


That spirits were riding the northern light.IX.

By a steel-clenched postern door


They enter'd now the chancel tall;


The darken'd roof rose high aloof


On pillars lofty and light and small:


The key-stone that lock'd each ribbed aisle,


Was a fleur-de-lys or a quatre-feuille;



The corbells were carved grotesque and grim;



And the pillars, with cluster'd shafts so trim,



With base and with capital flourish'd around,



Seem'd bundles of lances which garlands had bound.X


Full many a scutcheon and banner riven



Shook to the cold night-wind of heaven,



Around the screened altar's pale;



And there the dying lamps did burn



Before thy low and lonely urn,



O gallant chief of Otterburne!



And thine, dark knight of Liddesdale!



O fading honours of the dead!



O high ambition lowly laid!XI.


The moon on the east oriel shone



Through slender shafts of shapely stone,



By foliaged tracery combined;



Thou would'st have thought some fairy's hand



'Twixt poplars straight the osier wand



In many a freakish knot had twined;



Then framed a spell when the work was done,



And changed the willow wreaths to stone.



The silver light, so pale and faint,



Show'd many a prophet and many a saint,



Whose image on the glass was dyed;



Full in the midst, his Cross of Red



Triumphant Michael brandished,



And trampled the Apostate's pride.



The moon-beam kiss'd the holy pane,



And threw on the pavement a bloody stain.XII.


They sate them down on a marble stone,--



A Scottish monarch slept below;--



Thus spoke the monk, in solemn tone:



'I was not always a man of woe;



For Paynim countries I have trod,



And fought beneath the Cross of God:



Now, strange to my eyes thine arms appear,



And their iron clang sounds strange to my ear.XIII.


'In these far climes it was my lot



To meet the wondrous Michael Scott;



A wizard of such dreaded fame



That when, in Salamanca's cave,



Him listed his magic wand to wave,



The bells would ring in Notre Dame!



Some of his skill he taught to me;



And, warrior, I could say to thee



The words that cleft Eildon hills in three,



And bridled the Tweed with a eurb of stone:



But to speak them were a deadly sin;



And for having but thought them my heart within,



A treble penance must be done.XIV.


'When Michael lay on his dying bed,



His conscience was awakened;



He bethought him of his sinful deed,



And he gave me a sign to come with speed:



I was in Spain when the morning rose,



But I stood by his bed ere evening close.



The words may not again be said



That he spoke to me, on death-bed laid;



They would rend this Abbaye's messy nave,



And pile it in heaps above his grave.XV


'I swore to bury his Mighty Book,



That never mortal might therein look;



And never to tell where it was hid,



Save at his Chief of Branksome's need:



And when that need was past and o'er,



Again the volume to restore.



I buried him on St. Michael's night,



When the bell toll'd one, and the moon was bright,



And I dug his chamber among the dead



When the floor of the chancel was stained red,



That his patron's cross might over him wave,



And scare the fiends from the wizard's grave.XVI.


'It was a night of woe and dread



When Michael in the tomb I laid;



Strange sounds along the chancel pass'd,



The banners waved without a blast'--



Still spoke the monk, when the bell toll'd one!--



I tell you that a braver man



Than William of Deloraine, good at need,



Against a foe ne'er spurr'd a steed;



Yet somewhat was he chill'd with dread,



And his hair did bristle upon his head.XVII.


'Lo, warrior! now, the Cross of Red



Points to the grave of the mighty dead;



Within it burns a wondrous light,



To chase the spirits that love the night:



That lamp shall burn unquenchably,



Until the eternal doom shall be.'



Slow moved the monk to the broad flag-stone



Which the bloody Cross was traced upon:



He pointed to a secret nook;



An iron bar the warrior took;



And the monk made a sign with his wither'd hand,



The grave's huge portal to expand.XVIII.


With beating heart to the task he went;



His sinewy frame o'er the grave-stone bent;



With bar of iron heaved amain



Till the toil-drops fell from his brows like rain.



It was by dint of passing strength



That he moved the messy stone at length.



I would you had been there to see



How the light broke forth so gloriously,



Stream'd upward to the chancel roof,



And through the galleries far aloof!



No earthly flame blazed e'er so bright:



It shone like heaven's own blessed light,



And, issuing from the tomb,



Show'd the monk's cowl and visage pale,



Danced on the dark-brow'd warrior's mail,



And kiss'd his waving plume.XIX.


Before their eyes the wizard lay,



As if he had not been dead a day.



His hoary beard in silver roll'd,



He seem'd some seventy winters old;



A palmer's amice wrapp'd him round,



With a wrought Spanish baldric bound,



Like a pilgrim from beyond the sea:



His left hand held his Book of Might,



A silver cross was in his right,



The lamp was placed beside his knee:



High and majestic was his look,



At which the fellest fiend had shook,



And all unruffled was his face:



They trusted his soul had gotten grace.XX.


Often had William of Deloraine



Rode through the battle's bloody plain,



And trampled down the warriors slain,



And neither known remorse nor awe;



Yet now remorse and awe he own'd;



His breath came thick, his head swam round,



When this strange scene of death he saw,



Bewilder'd and unnerv'd he stood,



And the priest pray'd fervently and loud:



With eyes averted prayed he;



He might not endure the sight to see



Of the man he had loved so brotherly.XXI.


And when the priest his death-prayer had pray'd,



Thus unto Deloraine he said:



'Now, speed thee what thou hast to do,



Or, warrior, we may dearly rue;



For those thou may'st not look upon,



Are gathering fast round the yawning stone!'



Then Deloraine in terror took



From the cold hand the Mighty Book,



With iron clasp'd and with iron bound:



He thought, as he took it, the dead man frown'd;



But the glare of the sepulchral light



Perchance had dazzled the warrior's sight.XXII.


When the huge stone sunk o'er the tomb,



The night return'd in double gloom;



For the moon had gone down, and the stars were few;



And, as the knight and priest withdrew,



With wavering steps and dizzy brain,



They hardly might the postern gain.



'Tis said, as through the aisles they pass'd,



They heard strange noises on the blast;



And through the cloister-galleries small,



Which at mid-height thread the chancel wall,



Loud sobs, and laughter louder ran,



And voices unlike the voice of man;



As if the fiends kept holiday



Because these spells were brought to day.



I cannot tell how the truth may be;



I say the tale as 'twas said to me.XXIII.


`Now, hie thee hence,' the father said,



`And when we are on death-bed laid,



O may our dear Ladye and sweet St. John



Forgive our souls for the deed we have done!



The monk returned him to his cell,



And many a prayer and penance sped;



When the convent met at the noontide bell,



The Monk of St. Mary's aisle was dead!



Before the cross was the body laid



With hands clasp'd fast, as if still he pray'd.XXIV.


The knight breathed free in the morning wind,



And strove his hardihood to find:



He was glad when he pass'd the tombstones gray



Which girdle round the fair Abbaye;



For the mystic book, to his bosom prest,



Felt like a load upon his breast;



And his joints, with nerves of iron twined,



Shook like the aspen leaves in wind.



Full fain was he when the dawn of day



Began to brighten Cheviot gray;



He joy'd to see the cheerful light,



And he said Ave Mary as well as he might.