'O OPEN the door, some pity to show, Keen blows the northern wind! The glen is white with the drifted snow, And the path is hard to find. 'No outlaw seeks your castle gate, From chasing the King's deer, Though even an outlaw's wretched state Might claim compassion here. 'A weary Palmer, worn and weak, I wander for my sin; O open, for Our Lady's sake! A pilgrim's blessing win! 'I'll give you pardons from the Pope, And reliques from o'er the sea; Or if for these you will not ope, Yet open for charity. 'The hare is crouching in her form, The hart beside the hind; An aged man, amid the storm, No shelter can I find. 'You hear the Ettrick's sullen roar, Dark, deep, and strong is he, And I must ford the Ettick o'er, Unless you pity me. 'The iron gate is bolted hard, At which I knock in vain; The owner's heart is closer barr'd, Who hears me thus complain. 'Farewell, farewell! and Mary grant, When old and frail you be, You never may the shelter want That's now denied to me.' The Ranger on his couch lay warm, And heard him plead in vain; But oft amid December's storm He'll hear that voice again: For lo, when through the vapours dank, Morn shone on Ettrick fair, A corpse amid the alders rank, The Palmer welter'd there. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DESERTED PLANTATION by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR WOODNOTES: 2 by RALPH WALDO EMERSON ELEGY TO THE MEMORY OF AN UNFORTUNATE LADY by ALEXANDER POPE SONNETS ON PICTURES: MARY MAGDALEN AT THE DOOR OF SIMON THE PHARISEE by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI ECHOES OF SPRING: 5 by MATHILDE BLIND RANCH WOMAN by MARGARET CARROLL BRADY STEVENSON MAKES CONRAD WELCOME by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON |