George Gordon, Lord Byron (A Ballad) Poem by Sheena Blackhall

George Gordon, Lord Byron

Born hauf a Scot bit bred a hale ane
George Gordon Byron wis a bard
His mither, Catherine Gordon lued
Mad Jack, an tuik his deein hard

Heiress o Gight, a wealthy quine
She wad Mad Jack, a noble rake
His ‘Gowden Dallie', her he wood
An merriet fur her siller's sake

Noo Catherine cam o noble bluid
King James the first, in family tree
Bit fin the couple cam tae Gight
The Herons frae their reests did flee

Noo fin the heronry should teem
An auncient legend telt it true
The launs o Gight wid lairdless be
Her siller like the herons, flew

Mad Jack hid gambled aa awa
He fled, an sune their bairn wis born
In Lunnon, syne tae Aiberdeen
Catherine cam dowie an forelorn

Young Byron gaed tae Grammar Schule
Thonner, wi scarlet fever smittit
Untae the Nor East Heilans gaed
There mony's the local fowk misfittit

They caad the laddie wild an roch
He bedd there atBallaterach,
A fairm-hoose on the banks oDee,
An grew tae lue each Ben an loch

He caad the English landscape tame
Tae ane fa'd luiked on Lochnagar
An lued the fairmer's dother there
Young Mary wis the bard's hairt-star

Aged ten, he gained Newstead estate
His gammie fit meant nocht, fin rich
He schuled wi Mr Glennie syne
An Aiberdonian, in Dulwich

Syne aff tae Harrow, like a shelt
Unbrukken, there tae takk the curb
Led a rebellion gainst the Heid
An efter, Cambridge, drinkin club

He wad Miss Milbanke, a mistak
An shocked her genteel weys o beddin
Some said that wi Augusta Leigh
His sister, he used weys forbidden

Bit tae the Dee an tae the Don
An tae Balgownie Brig's blaik waa
His bairnhood feelins, tender thochts
Aften in quaet times did faa

He jyned the Greeks agin the Turks.
An in the marshes catched a fever
An deed a hero ower there
In Athens, he'll be famed foriver

Close tae the mids o Athens, Greece,
A statue shaws Greece croon the bard
An tae this day bairns takk his name
Hett bluided cheil fa lived life hard