Page:Bonny lass of Calder Braes (2).pdf/2

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THE LASS OF CALDER BRAES.


(Tune—Logan Water)

WHen cares were few and life was young
On Calder’s braes I danc‘d and sung
Unpain’d by keen remorse’s dart,
Joy flow’d spontaneous from my heart!
To crown the happy mundane scene,
I lov’d—nor did I love in vain,
The theme of all my artless lays.
Was my dear lass of Calder Braes.

Thrice happy days! your loss I mourn;
You’re gone—ah! “never to return:”
Ambition’s ignis fatu s glare
Transform’d my bliss to black despair:
The pomp of war and pride of arms
Appear’d with such resistless charms,
I left to face my country’s faes
My weeping maid on Calder Braes.

In martial conflict first I shone,
In climes below the burning zone,
Beneath eringapatam’s wall,
I saw the tyrant Sultan’s fall
Amidst the carnage of that day,

Where dead and dying round me lay,