Massacre of Glencoe (1824)/Massacre of Glencoe
THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE.
O tell me, Harper, wherefore flow,
The wayward, notes of wail and woe
Far lown the desert of Glencoe,
Where none may list their melody?
Say harp at thou to the mists that fly.
Or to the dun deer glancing by,
O to the eagle that from high
Screams chorus to thy minstrelsy.
"No, not to these, for they have rest—
To mist wreath has the mountain crest,
The stag, his lair the erne her nest;
Abode of lone security.
But those for whom I pour the lay,
Not wild wood deep nor mountain gray,
Not this heap dell that shrouds from day,
Could screen from treacherous cruelty.
"Their flag was furl'd, and mute their drum,
The very household dogs were dumb,
Unwont to bay of guesta that come
In guise of hospitality.
His blithest notes the piper plied.
Her gayest snood the maiden tied,
The dame her distaff flung aside,
To send her kind’y housewifery.
“The hand that mingled in the meal,
At midnight drew the felon steel
And gave the host’s kind breast to feel
Meed for his hospitality
The friendly hearth which warm’d that-hand;
At midnig’t arm d it with the brand,
That bade destruction’s flames expand,
Their red and fearful blazonry.
Then woman’s shriek was head in vain.
Nor infancy’s unpitied plain,
More than the warriors groan could gain,
Respite from ruthless butchery!
The winter wind that whistled shril,
The snows that night that cloaked the hills
Though wild and pitiless, had still
Far more than south'ron clemency.
“Long has my ha p's best notes been gone.
Few are its strings, and faint their tone.
They can but sound in desert lone,
Their grey-hair'd master’s misery.
Were each grey hair a minstrel strings,
Each cord should imprecations fling,
Till startled Scotland loud should ring,
"Revenge for blood and treachery."