Page:The Poetical Works of William Motherwell, 1849.djvu/137

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53

Halbert the Grim.

There is blood on that brow,
There is blood on that hand;
There is blood on that hauberk,
And blood on that brand.

Oh! bloody all o'er is
His war-cloak, I weet;
He is wrapped in the cover
Of murder's red sheet

There is pity in man—
Is there any in him?
No! ruth were a strange guest
To Halbert the Grim.

The hardest may soften,
The fiercest repent;
But the heart of Grim Halbert
May never relent.