Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79. | | | | Brackley | | Gordon of Brackley | | Allan Cunningham (1784–1842) |
| | | DOWN Dee side came Inveraye, | |
| Whistling and playing; | |
| And called loud at Brackley gate, | |
| Ere the day dawing, | |
| “Come, Gordon of Brackley, | 5 |
| Proud Gordon, come down; | |
| A sword ’s at your threshold, | |
| Mair sharp than your own.” | |
| |
| “Arise now, gay Gordon,” | |
| His lady gan cry; | 10 |
| “Look, there is bold Inveraye | |
| Driving your kye.” | |
| “How can I go, ladye, | |
| To win them agen? | |
| I have but ae sword, | 15 |
| And rude Inveraye ten.” | |
| |
| “Arise, all my maidens, | |
| With roke and with fan; | |
| How blest had I been | |
| Had I married a man! | 20 |
| Arise, all my maidens, | |
| Take buckler and sword; | |
| Go milk the ewes, Gordon, | |
| And I shall be lord.” | |
| |
| The Gordon sprang up, | 25 |
| Put his helm on his head; | |
| Laid his hand on his sword, | |
| And his thigh on his steed, | |
| And stooped low and said, | |
| As he kissed his young dame, | 30 |
| “There ’s a Gordon rides out | |
| That will never ride hame.” | |
| |
| Wi’ sword and wi’ dagger | |
| He rushed on him rude; | |
| And the gay gallant Gordon | 35 |
| Lies bathed in his blude. | |
| Frae the sources of Dee | |
| To the mouth of the Spey, | |
| The Highlanders mourn for him | |
| And curse Inveraye. | 40 |
| |
| “O, came ye by Brackley, | |
| And what saw ye there? | |
| Was his young widow weeping | |
| And tearing her hair?” | |
| “I came in by Brackley, | 45 |
| I came in, and O, | |
| There was mirth, there was feasting, | |
| But nothing of woe. | |
| |
| “As a rose bloomed the lady, | |
| And blithe as a bride; | 50 |
| Like a bridegroom bold Inveraye | |
| Smiled at her side. | |
| And she feasted him there, | |
| As she ne’er feasted lord, | |
| Though the blood of her husband | 55 |
| Was moist on his sword.” | |
| |
| There ’s grief in the cottage | |
| And tears in the ha’, | |
| For the gay gallant Gordon | |
| That ’s dead and awa’. | 60 |
| To the bush comes the bud, | |
| And the flower to the plain, | |
| But the good and the brave, | |
| They come never again. | | | | |
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