Donal Campbell

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DONAL' CAMPBELL
  -Donal' Bane-
sailed away across the
ocean
With the tartans of Clan
  Gordon, to the Indies'
  distant shore,
But on Dargai's lonely hill-
  side, Donal' Campbell
  met the foeman,
And the glen of Athol
Moray will never see him more!

O! the wailing of the women, O! the storm of
  bitter sorrow
Sweeping like the wintry torrent thro' Athol
  Moray's glen
When the black word reached the clansmen,
  that young Donal' Bane had fallen
In the red glare of the battle, with the gallant
  Gordon men!

Far from home and native sheiling, with the
 sun of India o'er him
Blazing  down its cruel hatred on the white-
  faced men below
Stood young Donal' with his comrades, like the
  hound of ghostly Fingal
Eager, waiting for the summons to leap up
  against the foe-

Hark! at last! the pipes are pealing out the
  welcome Caber Feidh
And wild the red blood rushes thro' every
  Highland vein
They breathe the breath of battle, the children
  of the Gael,
And fiercely up the hillside, they charge and
  charge again-

And the grey eye of the Highlands, now is
  dark as blackest midnight,
The history of their fathers is written on each
  face,
Of border creach and foray, of never yieldong
  conflict
Of all the memories shrouding a stern uncon-
  quered race!

And up the hillside, up the mountain, while
  the war-pipes shrilly clamour
Bayonet thrusting, broadsword cleaving, the
  Northern soldiers fought
Till the sun of India saw them victors o' er the
  dusky foeman,
For who can stay the Celtic hand when Celtic
  blood is hot?

But the corse of many a clansman from the far-
  off Scottish Highlands
"Mid the rocks of savage Dargai is lying cold
  and still
With the death-dew on its forehead, and young
  Donal' Campbell 's tartan
Bears a deeper stain of purple than the heather
  of the hill!

Mourn him!  Mourn him thro' the mountains,
  wail him women of Clan Campbell!
Let the Coronach be sounded tii it reach the
  Indian shore
For your beautiful has fallen in the foremost
  of the battle
And the glen of Athol Moray will never see
  him more!

© William Henry Drummond