Mythology & Folklore

The White Lady's Farewell

by Sir Walter Scott 1771–1832

From Songs from the Waverley Novels (Poetical Works, Oxford 1904)

Mythology & Folklore

FARE thee well, thou Holly green !
Thou shalt seldom now be seen,
With all thy glittering garlands bending,
As to greet my slow descending,
Startling the bewilder'd hind,
Who sees thee wave without a wind.

Farewell, Fountain ! now not long
Shalt thou murmur to my song,
While thy crystal bubbles glancing,
Keep the time in mystic dancing,
Rise and swell, are burst and lost,
Like mortal schemes by fortune cross'd.

The knot of fate at length is tied,
The Churl is Lord, the Maid is Bride!
Vainly did my magic sleight
Send the lover from her sight ;
Wither bush, and perish well,
Fall'n is lofty Avenel !

✦ ✦ ✦

From The Monastery (1820)

MLA

Scott, Walter. “The White Lady's Farewell.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/scott/196/.

Chicago

Scott, Walter. “The White Lady's Farewell.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/scott/196/.

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