THE BRAES OF YARROW.

"Thy braes were bonny, Yarrow stream! When first on them I met my lover, Thy braes how dreary, Yarrow stream! When now thy waves his body cover! For ever now, O Yarrow stream! Thou art to me a stream of sorrow; For never on thy banks shall I Behold my love, the flower of Yarrow. "He promised me a milk-white steed, To bear me to his father's bowers; He promised me a little page, To 'squire me to his father's towers; He promised me a wedding ring,— The wedding day was fix'd to-morrow;— Now he is wedded to his grave, Alas, his watery grave, in Yarrow! "Sweet were his words when last we met; My passion I as freely told him! Clasp'd in his arms, I little thought That I should never more behold him! Scarce was he gone, I saw his ghost; It vanish'd with a shriek of sorrow; Thrice did the water-wraith ascend, And gave a doleful groan thro' Yarrow! "His mother from the window look'd, With all the longing of a mother; His little sister weeping walk'd The green-wood path to meet her brother: They sought him east, they sought him west, They sought him all the forest through; They only saw the cloud of night, They only heard the roar of Yarrow! "No longer from thy window look, Thou hast no son, thou tender mother; No longer walk thou lovely maid; Alas, thou hast no more a brother! No longer seek him east or west, And search no more the forest through; For wandering in the night so dark, He fell a lifeless corse in Yarrow. "The tear shall never leave my cheek, No other youth shall be my marrow;[9] I'll seek thy body in the stream, And then with thee I'll sleep in Yarrow." The tear did never leave her cheek, No other youth became her marrow; She found his body in the stream, And now with him she sleeps in Yarrow.