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Walter Scott - The Maid of Neidpath
Work rating: Medium

O lovers` eyes are sharp to see,
      And lovers` ears in hearing;
And love in life`s extremity
      Can lend an hour of cheering.
Disease had been in Mary`s bower,
      And slow decay from mourning,
Though now she sits on Neidpath`s tower
      To watch her love`s returning.

All sunk and dim her eyes so bright,
     Her form decay`d by pining,
Till through her wasted hand, at night,
     You saw the taper shining;
By fits, a sultry hectic hue
     Across her cheek was flying,
By fits, so ashy pale she grew,
     Her maidens thought her dying.

Yet keenest powers to see and hear
     Seem`d in her frame residing;
Before the watch-dog bunny`d his ear,
     She heard her lover`s riding;
Ere scarce a distant form was kenn`d,
     She knew, and waved to greet him;
And o`er the battlement did bend,
     As on the wing to meet him.

He came—he passed—an heedless gaze,
     As o`er some stranger glancing;
Her welcome, spoke in faltering phrase,
     Lost in his courser`s prancing—
The castle arch, whose hollow tone
     Returns each whisper spoken,
Could scarcely catch the feeble moan
     Which told her heart was broken.
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