A voice full of impatience and fire calls the men of the border dales—Ettrick, Teviotdale, Eskdale, Liddesdale—to stop lagging and march forward in proper order. It is a direct, urgent command, as if the speaker is looking down from a height, watching banners flutter and waiting for every fighter to fall in line. The poem sweeps you straight into a muster scene: trumpets cutting the air, war-horses stamping, a beacon flaring on the crag. There is fierce pride here, but also a raw love for the homeland—the hills where sheep graze, the glens of buck and roe. The mood is breathless and forward-surging, built on the certainty that this day will be worth telling. The speaker isn’t just gearing men for battle; he is promising that England will long remember the “bloody fray” once the Blue Bonnets spill over the Border for queen and old Scottish glory.
Border Ballad — Summary
March, march, Ettrick and Teviotdale, Why the deil dinna ye march forward in order! March, march, Eskdale and Liddesdale, All the Blue Bonnets are bound for the Border. Many a banner spread, Flutters above your head, Many a crest that is famous in story. Mount and make ready then, Sons of the mountain glen, Fight for the Queen and our old Scottish glory.
Come from the hills where your hirsels are grazing, Come from the glen of the buck and the roe; Come to the crag where the beacon is blazing, Come with the buckler, the lance, and the bow. Trumpets are sounding, War-steeds are bounding, Stand to your arms, then, and march in good order; England shall many a day Tell of the bloody fray, When the Blue Bonnets came over the Border.