From "Lay of the last Minstrel: the Ride to Melrose", Canto II, stanza I If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright, Go visit it by the pale moonlight; For the gay beams of lightsome day Gild, but to flout, the ruins gray. When the broken arches are black in night, And each shafted oriel glimmers white; When the cold light's uncertain shower Streams on the ruined central tower; [When buttress and buttress, alternately, Seem framed of ebon and ivory;] When silver edges the imagery, And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die; When distant Tweed is heard to rave, And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave, Then go--but go alone the while-- Then view St. David's ruin'd pile; And, home returning, soothly swear, Was never scene so sad and fair! Note: lines in brackets not part of the musical setting.