Poetry > Lady of the lake

116
THE LADY OF THE LAKE.
Canto III.
Yet live there still who can remember well,
How, when a mountain chief his bugle blew,
Both field and forest, dingle, cliff, and dell,
And solitary heath, the signal knew;
And fast the faithful clan around him drew,
What time the warning note was keenly wound,
What time aloft their kindred banner flew,
While clamorous war-pipes yell’d the gathering
sound,
And while the Fiery Cross glanced, like a meteor,
round.1
II.
The summer dawn’s reflected hue
To purple changed Loch Katrine blue;
Mildly and soft the western breeze
Just kiss’d the Lake, just stirr’d the trees,
And the pleased lake, like maiden coy,
Trembled but dimpled not for joy;
The mountain-shadows on her breast
Were neither broken nor at rest;
In bright uncertainty they lie,
Like future joys to Fancy’s eye.
The water-lily to the light
Her chalice rear’d of silver bright;
The doe awoke, and to the lawn,
Begemm’d with dewdrops, led her fawn;
! [See Appendix, Note I'.]