Thin curling in the morning air,
The wreaths of failing smoke declare,
To embers now the brands decayed,
Where the night-watch their fires had made.
They saw, slow rolling on the plain,
Full many a baggage-cart and wain,
And dire artillery’s clumsy car,
By sluggish oxen tugged to war;
And there were Borthwick’s Sisters Seven,
And culverins which France had given.
Ill-omened gift! the guns remain
The conqueror’s spoil on Flodden plain.