Poeticous Logo
en
English Español Français Italiano
Charles Mackay

Charles Mackay

The Will O’ the Wisp

Where the snake lurks in the tangled grass,
By the slippery brink of the dank morass,
Merrily O! Merrily O!
I light my lamp, and forth I go!
And to lure astray the lated wight,
I shine all night in the swampy hollows,
Merrily O! Merrily O!
Wailing and woe to the fool who follows!
 
O! Love and Friendship and I make three,
We roam together in company!
Merrily O! Merrily O!
We light our lamps, and forth we go!
Friendship showeth a steady ray,
But its dupes ne’er dream that its heart is hollow,
Merrily O! Merrily O!
Wailing and woe to the fools who follow!
 
O! Love indeed hath a fairer gleam;
What is so bright as her first fond dream?
Merrily O! Merrily O!
We light our lamps, and forth we go!
An early blight if that love be true,
A broken heart if that love be hollow!
Merrily O! Merrily O!
Wailing and woe to the fools who follow!

#ScottishWriters

Other works by Charles Mackay...
Wassail

If thy bosom undaunted ne’er quail… Or feared to stand forth for the r… If thy doors were ne’er shut on th… Thy heart never false to its pligh… To thee we will drink, as a king a…
The Isle of Truth

While the beams of the daylight ye… ’Sail onwards, my bark, to the isl… ‘Where Love blooms for ever in fo… ’And Passion forgets not the vows… ‘Where Friendship forsakes not, t…
Evening

’Tis sweet at morn among the corn, When air and earth are jolly, But sweeter far, at evening’s star… Among the woods of holly. The morn, though fair, is tinged w…
Constancy

I knew thee in the sunny hour, When Fortune shed her brightest b… And thought, should e’er the tempe… Thy love would wither like a dream… I deemed that it was feigned and c…
On the Capitulation of Warsaw, September 1831

Soldier of Poland! wherefore sigh… Freedom, though crushed, shall nev… Though for awhile her noble head Be trampled by the Cossack’s trea… Though the proud Russian lay her…
To the Winds

Wind of the winter night, whence c… And whither, oh whither, art wande… Sad, sad is thy voice on this deso… And mournful, oh mournful, thy how… Say where hast thou been on thy cl…
The Sycamore Tree

O! for the shade of the sycamore, That spreadeth its boughs at my co… O! for the kiss of my bonnie bride… And the welcome glow of her warm f… And O! for the smile of my bonnie…
Hymn for the Dead

O! why should we bewail the dead, Why sorrow o’er their narrow bed? Have they not sought the happy sho… Where human cares oppress no more? Bewail them not!-more blest than w…
The Northern Star

The rushing winds around us sweep, The storms about us roar, And we-we skim the foaming deep, A thousand miles from shore. Fierce o’er the wave the tempests…
Resignation

In cold misfortune’s cheerless day… When joy and peace and love depart… When friends deceive, and hopes de… And sorrows press the heavy heart, O! Lord, Thou canst relief impart…
The Maiden of Rhine

At sunset a maid was roaming Alone by the banks of Rhine, Whose stream to the dark sea foami… Was bright in the red sunshine: And she wept in bitter sorrow,
 1
Light Is Love Without Esteem

Light is love without esteem. Lighter than a feather, But ours has borne Contempt and scorn, And sorrow’s wintry weather!
The Graves of Our Fathers

Far away from the white man’s smok… In the woods and in silence deep, Under the shade of the beech and o… The bones of the heroes sleep. And there we go when the sky is gr…
The Maiden Pale

The earth is white with the fallin… And white is the forest tree, And my mocassin leaves no tell-tal… As I come to visit thee. O! swift is my foot on the war-pat…
Reveries-Night

Tis sweet to roam alone In some sequestered wood, When slumbering Echo hears no sou… When Night and Silence spread aro… A holy solitude;



Top