I. <br /> <br />IN old Shuil Donald's cottage there are many voices weeping, <br />And stifled sobs, and murmurings of sorrow wild and vain, <br />For the old man's cherish'd blessing on her bed of death lies sleeping,-- <br />The sleep from which no human wish can rouse her soul again. <br />Oh, dark are now those gentle eyes which shone beneath their lashes <br />So full of laughter and of love--it seems but yesterday-- <br />Well may Shuil Donald mourn beside his hearth's forsaken ashes, <br />His lily of the valley is wither'd away! <br />II. <br /> <br />The spring shall come to other hearts with breezes and with showers, <br />But lonely winter still shall reign in old Shuil Donald's home; <br />Others may raise the song of joy, and laugh away the hours, <br />But he--oh! never more may joy to his lone dwelling come. <br />Her name shall be an empty sound, in idle converse spoken, <br />Forgotten shall she be by those who mourn her most to-day-- <br />All, all but one, who wanders with his Highland spirit broken, <br />His lily of the valley is wither'd away! <br />III. <br /> <br />And he--long, long, at even-tide, when sunset rays are gleaming, <br />That sad old man shall sit within his lonely cottage door, <br />Desolate, desolate shall sit, and muse with idle dreaming <br />On days when her returning step came quick across the moor. <br />Oh! never more her quiet smile, her cheerful voice of greeting, <br />Shall rouse to warmth his aged heart, when darkly sinks the day-- <br />Never, oh! never more on earth those loved ones may be meeting-- <br />His lily of the valley is wither'd away!<br /><br />Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-lament-for-shuil-donald-s-daughter/
