Slow gliding o'er the moonlight bay.
When light to land the chieftain sprung.
To hail the maid of Colonsay.
"O sad the Mermaid's gay notes fell,
And sadly sink remote at sea!
O sadly mourns the writhèd shell
Of Jura's shore, its parent sea.
"And ever as the year returns,
The charm-bound sailors know the day;
For sadly still the Mermaid mourns