Covenanters' coronal/Dunnottar Castle
DUNNOTTAR CASTLE
Dark Dunnottar, ere we go,
We will linger on this steep,
While our pensive musings flow
From the dungeon to the keep.
Weary Watchmen from thy tower
Oft have strained their aching sight,
When the English tyrant’s power
Reft our liberty and right.
On thy rock has freedom fought
In the arm of Wallace brave,
When her firebrand Vengeance brought,
And the altar failed to save.
’Gainst the courtier’s murky quirk
There the pious light implored,
When the crown oppressed the kirk,
And the sceptre turned a sword.
In thy halls, the brave and fair
Joyous mingled in the dance,
When the trumpet ceased to blare,
And the Knight reposed his lance.
There Philosophy designed
How to shed her peaceful light
Where the might of hand and mind
Had but learned to rule the fight.
For the sceptre, crown, and sword,
There hath Barras bravely stood;
When the Monarch was restored—
There hath Perseeution's hand
Tortured infaney and age;
When the Covenanted band
Braved a Popish bigot’s rage.
Then the warder proudly trod,
As he trolled a seoffing lay;
Or blasphemed the name of God,
As the eaptive bent to pray.
There the Hill-man oft hath sighed
To be free as oeean's swell,
While he sadly marked its tide
As it gaily rose and fell.
All have passed like morning dew—
Sadness sighs in hall and eave,
To the wailing of the mew,
And the murmur of the wave.
Thus thy billows, deathless deep,
As from elime to clime they range,
Still behold, along thy steep,
Human grandeur doomed to ehange.
But may Freedom’s anthem swell
From the castle to the cot;
Till Oppression’s ruthless cell
Share Dunnottar’s gloomy lot!
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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