Walter Scott - Chronicles of the Canongate

When I looked down from the crag, and beheld the fair-haired
stranger dallying with his bride,
I wished I had never revisited the glen of my dreams.

SUCH THINGS CAME INTO MY HEART AS THAT SUN WAS GOING DOWN,
A PAIN OF WHICH I SHALL NEVER BE RID, WHAT AVAILETH ME TO TELL
IT?

'Since it has been heard that the carpenter had persuaded thee,
My sleep is disturbed—busy is foolishness within me at
midnight.

The kindness that has been between us, I cannot shake off that
memory in visions;
Thou callest me not to thy side; but love is to me for a
messenger.

THERE IS STRIFE WITHIN ME, AND I TOSS TO BE AT LIBERTY;
AND EVER THE CLOSER IT CLINGS, AND THE DELUSION IS GROWING TO
ME AS A TREE.

'Anne, yellow-haired daughter of Donald, surely thou knowest
not how it is with me—
That it is old love, unrepaid, which has worn down from me my
strength;

That when far from thee, beyond many mountains, the wound in
my heart was throbbing,
Stirring, and searching for ever, as when I sat beside thee on
the turf.

NOW, THEN, HEAR ME THIS ONCE, IF FOR EVER I AM TO BE WITHOUT
THEE,
MY SPIRIT IS BROKEN—GIVE ME ONE KISS ERE I LEAVE THIS LAND!

'Haughtily and scornfully the maid looked upon me:—
Never will it be work for thy fingers to unloose the band from
my curls.

Thou hast been absent a twelvemonth, and six were seeking me
diligently;
Was thy superiority so high that there should be no end of
abiding for thee?

HA! HA! HA! HAST THOU AT LAST BECOME SICK?
IS IT LOVE THAT IS TO GIVE DEATH TO THEE? SURELY THE ENEMY
HAS BEEN IN NO HASTE.

'But how shall I hate thee, even though towards me thou hast
become cold?

When my discourse is most angry concerning thy name in thine
absence,

Of sudden thine image, with its old dearness, comes visibly
into my mind,
And a secret voice whispers that love will yet prevail!

AND I BECOME SURETY FOR IT ANEW, DARLING,
AND IT SPRINGS UP AT THAT HOUR LOFTY AS A TOWER.'