136
miscellaneous poems.
THE BLASTED OAK.
Dark on the heath the night gloom fell,
Loud sighed the wind; with fitful spell
The light'ning glared around,
And meeting clouds, with angry roar,
The burthen of the tempest bore,
Far o'er the trembling ground.
Loud sighed the wind; with fitful spell
The light'ning glared around,
And meeting clouds, with angry roar,
The burthen of the tempest bore,
Far o'er the trembling ground.
Hark! heard ye not, 'mid torrents borne,
The echo of a distant horn
Upon the moaning blast?
And clatt'ring hoofs as if, with speed,
For life, for life spurred on a steed—
It comes, and now 't hath past,
The echo of a distant horn
Upon the moaning blast?
And clatt'ring hoofs as if, with speed,
For life, for life spurred on a steed—
It comes, and now 't hath past,
With bloody spur, and frantic mien—
Too well the rider's haste, I ween,
Of crime, of terror spoke;
And ever and anon he threw
A fearful glance, where lonely grew
An old and gnarled oak.
Too well the rider's haste, I ween,
Of crime, of terror spoke;
And ever and anon he threw
A fearful glance, where lonely grew
An old and gnarled oak.
