THE HIGHLAND GIRL'S LAMENT.
The ancient Highlanders believed the spirits of their departed friends continually present, and that their imagined appearances and voices communicated warnings of approaching death.
Oh! set the bridal feast aside,
And bear the harp away;
The coronach must sound instead,
From solemn kirk-yard gray.
I heard last eve, at set of sun,
The death-bell on the gale.
It was no earthly melody:—
The eglantine grew pale;
And leaf and blossom seemed to thrill
With an unuttered prayer,
As, fraught with desolateness wild,
The strange notes stirred the air.
And on the rugged mountain height,
Where snow and sunbeam meet,
That never yet in storm or shine
Was trod by human feet,
A weird and spectral presence came
Between me and the light;
The waving of a shadowy hand
That faded into night.
I felt it was the first who left
Our little household band,—
The child, with waving locks of gold,
Now in the silent land.