Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.
The Seven Sisters; Or, the Solitude of Binnorie
By William Wordsworth (1770–1850)S
All children of one mother:
You 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, O, mournfully,
The solitude of Binnorie!
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, O, mournfully,
The solitude of Binnorie!
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, O, mournfully,
The solitude of Binnorie!
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, O, mournfully,
The solitude of Binnorie!
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 plunged into the deep,
Nor ever more were seen.
Sing mournfully, O, mournfully,
The solitude of Binnorie!
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, O, mournfully,
The solitude of Binnorie!