B. S. Montgomery

“ She wildly vows to the heavens above her
⁠She’ll wed young Nevill, whate’er betide;
But her father has banish’d her landless lover,
⁠And the haughty chieftain claims his bride.
In after days they have met: far better
⁠That parted lovers should meet no more,
When one is bound by that golden fetter,
⁠With the love still warm at each true heart’s core. ”

“ With, “Nevill, beloved, our woes are over!—
⁠To the Gordon’s thrall a glad good-night!”
The chief look’d down on the hapless lovers;—
⁠O, but his frown was dark to see:
“I would give the best of my lands, proud Nevill,
⁠To hold the heart thou hast lured from me!”
He knelt him down as her life was ebbing,
⁠On the trampled heather he bent the knee;
“I would pluck the heart from my breast, false Ellen,
⁠For one soft smile of love from thee!” ”

“ Unless we two for aye were parted,—
⁠But, O, I have wept for that deadly sin!
“Vowing to honour, I scorned and hated,
⁠Dreaming on all I had loved and lost,
But, ah! more bitter, more darkly fated,
⁠That ever again our paths have cross’d!” ”