Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79. | | | | Loch Leven | | Queen Mary’s Escape from Lochleven Castle | | Robert Allan (1774–1841) |
| | | PUT off, put off, and row with speed, | |
| For now ’s the time, and the hour of need! | |
| To oars, to oars, and trim the bark, | |
| Nor Scotland’s queen be a warder’s mark! | |
| Yon light that plays round the castle’s moat | 5 |
| Is only the warder’s random shot! | |
| Put off, put off, and row with speed, | |
| For now is the time, and the hour of need! | |
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| Those ponderous keys 1 shall the kelpies keep, | |
| And lodge in their caverns dark and deep; | 10 |
| Nor shall Lochleven’s towers or hall | |
| Hold thee, our lovely lady, in thrall; | |
| Or be the haunt of traitors, sold, | |
| While Scotland has hands and hearts so bold; | |
| Then, steersmen, steersmen, on with speed, | 15 |
| For now is the time, and the hour of need! | |
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| Hark! the alarum-bell hath rung, | |
| And the warder’s voice hath treason sung; | |
| The echoes to the falconet’s roar | |
| Chime softly to the dashing oar. | 20 |
| Let town and hall and battlements gleam, | |
| We steer by the light of the tapers’ beam; | |
| For Scotland and Mary, on with speed; | |
| Now, now is the time, and the hour of need! | |
| | | Note 1. The keys here alluded to were, at a recent period, found in the lake. [back] | | |
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