'My
Lady Love'
David Melville
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I STOOD on Keptie Hill at early dawn,
 And,
in the Orient, saw the glorious light
Again
triumphing o'er the drowsy night,—
Shedding his beams athwart the dewy lawn.
Beneath
me lay the yellow-ripened corn,
But
lately girded up in golden sheaves ;
The birds were piping 'mongst the scattered leaves
Their
cheerful music to the red-cheeked morn :
But
ah ! their notes my bosom failed to move,
For now I mourned an absent lady-love.
I stood at midnight on the Keptie Hill,
And,
gazing seaward, saw the pale light rest
Serenely
on the murmuring water's breast
(The town beneath in sleep profound lay still) ;
O
had my lady-love been that chaste moon,
That
shone upon the blue expanse so bright,
Kissing away the shadows of the night,
And
I that richly-favoured sea, how soon
Would
I have yielded to her pure embrace,
And murmured not while I beheld her face.
I stood beside my lady yesternight
When
scarce a zephyr stirred the fading grove :
In
tremulous tones I spoke to her of love,
And looked into her eyes with fond delight.
The
sun his 'golden pilgrimage' had run,
And
stars were twinkling in the vault above ;
Hushed was the silver-sweet voice of my love ;
But
yet I knew her virgin heart was won ;
And
in her dark eyes shone a light divine
When 'neath Dian's pale orb I called her mine. |
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DAVID
MELVILLE was born in Dundee in 1852. He is a railway
clerk, and for some years he resided in Arbroath.
Mr. Melville has been a contributor of verses to a
number of the Forfarshire newspapers.
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Commentary
extracted from 'Round about the Round O with its Poets',
1883. |
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