The Book of Scottish Song/The troops were embark'd

The troops were embark'd.

[John Mayne.]

The troops were all embark'd on board;
The ships were under weigh;
And loving wives, and maids adored,
Were weeping round the bay.

They parted from their dearest friends,
From all their heart desires;
And Rosabell to heaven commends
The man her soul admires!

For him, she fled from soft repose;
Renounced a parent's care:
He sails to crush his country's foes—
She wanders in despair!

A seraph in an infant's frame,
Reclined upon her arm;
And sorrow, in the comely dame,
Now heigh ten'd every charm:

She thought, if fortune had but smiled—
She thought upon her dear;
But when she look'd upon his child,
O! then ran many a tear!

"Ah! who will watch thee as thou sleep'st?
Who'll sing a lullaby,
Or rock thy cradle when thou weep'st,
If I should chance to die!"

On board the ship, resign'd to fate,
Yet planning joys to come,
Her love in silent sorrow sate,
Upon a broken drum:

He saw her lonely on the beach;
He saw her on the strand;
And far as human eye can reach,
He saw her wave her hand!

"O, Rosabell! though forced to go,
With thee my soul shall dwell;
And heaven, who pities human woe,
Will comfort Rosabell."

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