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The Poems of Will H Ogilvie |
Will Ogilvie was born at Holefield Farm near Kelso, Scotland in 1869.
His adventurous nature drew him to Australia when he was 20 where he spent twelve years in The Australian Outback. He became an accomplished stationhand, drover and horsebreaker. He displayed yet another of his talents making a name for himself as a writer of romantic verse of his adventures in the Outback.
Will returned to Scotland in 1901 and wrote stirring poems of the Borderlands. His writings reflected his love of the Borderlands and a deep insight into the lives and minds of the people who lived there during the times of the Border Reivers.
In his 94th year, in 1963, Will H Ogilvie died at his beloved home at Ashkirk. His ashes were scattered on the hillside on the road to Roberton. In 1993, the Will H Ogilvie Memorial Committee erected a stone memorial on the spot. |
THE RAIDERS Last night a wind from Lammermoor came roaring And struck a mailed hand on the gate and cried in "Come forth. Come forth, my Borderer, and ride the I said, "Oh! Wind of Lammermoor, the night's too And all the men that fill the glen are ghosts of men The floods are down in Bowmont Burn, the moss is Go back, wild Wind of Lammermoor, to Lauderdale Out spoke the Wind of Lammermoor, "We know the The road that runs by Kale and Jed across the There is no man of all the men in this grey troop But blind might ride the Borderside from Teviothead
The horses fretted on their bits and pawed the flints The riders swung them to the South full-faced to "Come said the Wind from Lammermoor," "Have ye no pride to mount and ride your fathers'
A roan horse to the gate they led, foam-flecked and A snorting roan that tossed his head and flashed
Then came the sound of clashing steel and hoof- And two by two we cantered through, a troop
I know not if the farms we fired are burned to I know not if the stirks grew tired before the stars I only know that late last night when Northern A troop of men rode up the glen and brought a horse
Will H Ogilvie
By kind permission of Mrs Catherine Reid |
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