BAI RN, when I am dead,

How shall ye keep frae harm?
What hand shall gie ye bread?

What fire will keep ye warm?

How shall ye dwell on earth awa' frae me?"

"O bairn, by night or day

I hear nae sounds ava',

But voices of winds that blaw, And the voices of ghaists that say,

'Come awa! come awa!'

The Lord that made the wind, and made the sea, Is sore on my son and me,

And I melt in His breath like snaw.".

"O Mither, dinna dee!"

206

"O BAIRN, WHEN I AM DEAD.”

"O bairn, it is but closing up the een,

And lying down never to rise again.
Many a strong man's sleeping hae I seen,-
There is nae pain!

I'm weary, weary, and I scarce ken why;
My summer has gone by,

And sweet were sleep, but for the sake o' thee.""O Mither, dinna dee!"

ROBERT BUCHANAN.

(FROM "TIS PITY SHE'S A QUEEN,"-A.D. 1610),

ACT IV. SCENE 2.

The LADY MARGARET, with SUSAN and LUCY; LADY M. at her embroidery frame, singing.

IRLS, when I am gone away,

On this bosom strew

Only flowers meek and pale,

And the yew.

Lay these hands down by my side,

Let my face be bare;

Bind a kerchief round the face,

Smooth my hair.

Let my bier be borne at dawn,

Summer grows so sweet,

Deep into the forest green

Where boughs meet.

208

"GIRLS, WHEN I AM GONE AWAY."

Then pass away, and let me lie

One long, warm, sweet day

There alone with face upturn'd,

One sweet day.

When the morning light grows broad,
While noon sleepeth sound,

While the evening falls and faints,

While the world goes round.

EDWARD DOWDEN,

ASSING away, saith the World, passing away : Chances, beauty and youth sapped day by day:

Thy life never continueth in one stay.

Is the eye waxen dim, is the dark hair changing to

grey

That hath won neither laurel nor bay?

I shall clothe myself in Spring and bud in May;
Thou, root-stricken, shalt not rebuild thy decay
On my bosom for aye.
Then I answered: Yea.

Passing away, saith my Soul, passing away :

With its burden of fear and hope, of labour and play ; Hearken what the past doth witness and say:

Rust in thy gold, a moth is in thine array,

A canker is in thy bud, thy leaf must decay.

At midnight, at cockcrow, at morning, one certain

day

Lo, the Bridegroom shall come and shall not delay: Watch thou and pray.

Then I answered: Yea.