And lovers they besieged her sore;
For love that she had given
To one who would come to her no more;
So she faded into heaven.
They made her grave where robins sing;
Trees whisper requiems daily;
They laid her down with her broken ring;
In her grave at Kirk ma Rielly.
Word went out of the maiden's death,
Who for true love departed;
It found him who mourned her broken faith,
And mourned her as false, falsehearted.
He turned as cold as cold, cold clay,
And fell struck down with sorrow;
"I know how my dear love died to-day,
I will die for her to-morrow.
"My love is dead so sweet and fair,
Blighted and broken hearted,
I'll keep my tryst, and together dead,
We'll rest who were falsely parted.
"Gold that my darling could not save,
That made my love derided,
Shall carry me home and dig my grave,
We'll not be in death divided."
They made his grave on Erin's breast,
Where the birds sing requiems daily;
And laid him beside his love to rest,
In the grave-yard of Kirk ma Bielly.
EDGAR
I have not wept for Edgar, as a mother
Weeps for the tender lamb she lays to rest;
And yet it cannot be that any other
Baby like him shall lie upon my breast;
For he was with us but a passing guest,
A birdling that belonged not to the nest.
Looking upon his large dark eyes so tender,
Filled with the solemn light of Paradise,
I knew that word would soon come to surrender,
My babe, not mine, but native to the skies;
As the sweet lark that ever upward flies,
He would be taken from my longing eyes.