from The Bijou Literary Annual, 1828
author: By Allan Cunningham
source date: 1828
edition published: 20170606
availability: Freely available via a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

The Bijou;
or Annual of Literature and the Arts

compiled by William Fraser
William Pickering London
1828
pp. 29-30

The Poet Warrior

By Allan Cunningham

1.
STAYED is the war- horse in his strength,
Broke is the barbed arrow,
The spell has conquered on Nithside,
Which won of yore on Yarrow.
O did he bear a charmed sword
That for no mail would tarry,
And on his youthful head a helm
Was forged in land of fairy.
Did Saxon shaft and war axe dint
Fall on charm's mail and elfin flint?

2.
His spell was valour, and he came
When warrior's hearts were coldest,
And poured his fire through peasant's souls,
And led and ruled the boldest.
He with flushed brow, and flashing eyes,
And right arm bare and gory,
Rushed reeking o'er the lives of men,
And turned our shame to glory.
A hero's soul was his, and higher
The minstrel's love, and poet's fire.

3.
Seek for a dark and down cast eye,
A glance 'mongst men the mildest,
Seek for a bearing haught and high
Can daunt and awe the wildest.
Seek one whose soul is tenderness
Is steeped — who to the lyre
Can pour out song as fast and bright
As heaven can pour its fire.
Seek him, and when thou find'st him, kneel,
Though thou hadst gold spurs on thy heel.