Seven Daughters had Lord Archibald,
All Children of one Mother:
I could
not say in one short day
What love they bore each other.
A Garland of
seven Lilies wrought!
Seven Sisters that together dwell;
But he, bold
Knight as ever fought,
Their Father, took of them no thought,
He loved
the Wars so well.
Sing, mournfully, oh! mournfully,
The Solitude of
Binnorie!
Fresh blows the wind, a western wind,
And from the shores of Erin,
Across
the wave, a Rover brave
To Binnorie is steering:
Right onward to the
Scottish strand
The gallant ship is borne;
The warriors leap upon the
land,
And hark! The Leader of the Band
Hath blown his bugle horn.
Sing, mournfully, oh! mournfully,
The Solitude of Binnorie.
Beside a Grotto of their own,
With boughs above them closing,
The Seven
are laid, and in the shade
They lie like Fawns reposing.
But now,
upstarting with affright
At noise of Man and Steed,
Away they fly to
left to right--
Of your fair household, Father Knight,
Methinks you take
small heed!
Sing, mournfully, oh! mournfully,
The Solitude of Binnorie.
Away the seven fair Campbells fly,
And, over Hill and Hollow,
With menace
proud, and insult loud,
The youthful Rovers follow.
Cried they,
"Your Father loves to roam:
Enough for him to find
The empty
House when he comes home;
For us your yellow ringlets comb,
For us be
fair and kind!"
Sing, mournfully, oh! mournfully,
The Solitude
of Binnorie.
Some close behind, some side to side,
Like clouds in stormy weather;
They
run, and cry, "Nay, let us die,
And let us die
together."
A lake was near; the shore was steep;
There never
Foot had been;
They ran, and with a desperate leap
Together plung'd into
the deep,
Nor ever more were seen.
Sing, mournfully, oh!
mournfully,
The Solitude of Binnorie.
The Stream that flows out of the Lake,
As through the glen it rambles,
Repeats a moan o'er moss and stone,
For those seven lovely Campbells.
Seven little Islands, green and bare,
Have risen from out the deep:
The
Fishers say, those Sisters fair,
By Faeries all are buried there,
And
there together sleep.
Sing, mournfully, oh! mournfully,
The Solitude of
Binnorie.