The Book of Scottish Song/Glen-Orra

Glen-Orra.

[This and the three following songs originally appeared in "The Harp of Renfrewshire," published at Paisley in 1819.]

The gale is high, the bark is light,
Swiftly it glides the dark sea over,
Why bear, ye waves, so base a freight,
Why waft, ye winds, a vagrant lover.
Wake, artless maid, thy dream is o'er,
No bright'ning hope can gild to-morrow,
Thy lover hails a distant shore,
Nor thinks of thee far in Glen-Orra.

The moon is up, the maiden's gone,
Where flower and tree the night dews cover,
To weep by mountain streamlet lone,
O'er perjur'd vows of faithless lover,
Turn, faithless wretch, seek Orra's wild,
To rapture raise the maiden's sorrow,
Ah! see where love so lately smil'd,
Cold, cold, she sinks in dark Glen-Orra.

The moon hangs pale o'er Orra's steep,
And lists a hapless maiden sighing,
The sullen night-winds, cavern'd, sleep,
As loth to rave o'er maiden dying.
The hue of death has blench'd the lip,
The rosy cheek is pale with sorrow,
Ere morn, death's chilly hand shall nip
The loveliest flower in green Glen-Orra.

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