But I shall in the churchyard lie
Ere I will wave ye thrice!" he said.
"For if I thrice should wave the flag,
And thrice should get my heart's desire,
Next day might come a sorer need,
When it were ashes in the fire."
Macleod kept well his word: he fought
For life on many a bloody plain;
He tossed in peril on the sea,
Nor waved the fairy flag again.