| BONNIE Kilmeny gaed up the glen; | |
| But it wasna to meet Duneira's men, | |
| Nor the rosy monk of the isle to see, | |
| For Kilmeny was pure as pure could be. | |
| It was only to hear the yorlin sing, | 5 |
| And pu' the cress-flower round the spring; | |
| The scarlet hypp and the hindberrye, | |
| And the nut that hung frae the hazel tree; | |
| For Kilmeny was pure as pure could be. | |
| But lang may her minny look o'er the wa', | 10 |
| But lang may she seek i' the green-wood shaw; | |
| Lang the laird o' Duneira blame, | |
| And lang, lang greet or Kilmeny come hame! | |
| |
| When many a day had come and fled, | |
| When grief grew calm, and hope was dead, | 15 |
| When mess for Kilmeny's soul had been sung, | |
| When the bedesman had pray'd and the dead bell rung, | |
| Late, late in gloamin' when all was still, | |
| When the fringe was red on the westlin hill, | |
| The wood was sere, the moon i' the wane, | 20 |
| The reek o' the cot hung over the plain, | |
| Like a little wee cloud in the world its lane; | |
| When the ingle low'd wi' an eiry leme, | |
| Late, late in the gloamin' Kilmeny came hame! | |
| |
| 'Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been? | 25 |
| Lang hae we sought baith holt and den; | |
| By linn, by ford, and green-wood tree, | |
| Yet you are halesome and fair to see. | |
| Where gat you that joup o' the lily scheen? | |
| That bonnie snood of the birk sae green? | 30 |
| And these roses, the fairest that ever were seen? | |
| Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been?' | |
| |
| Kilmeny look'd up with a lovely grace, | |
| But nae smile was seen on Kilmeny's face; | |
| As still was her look, and as still was her e'e, | 35 |
| As the stillness that lay on the emerant lea, | |
| Or the mist that sleeps on a waveless sea. | |
| For Kilmeny had been, she knew not where, | |
| And Kilmeny had seen what she could not declare; | |
| Kilmeny had been where the cock never crew, | 40 |
| Where the rain never fell, and the wind never blew. | |
| But it seem'd as the harp of the sky had rung, | |
| And the airs of heaven play'd round her tongue, | |
| When she spake of the lovely forms she had seen, | |
| And a land where sin had never been; | 45 |
| A land of love and a land of light, | |
| Withouten sun, or moon, or night; | |
| Where the river swa'd a living stream, | |
| And the light a pure celestial beam; | |
| The land of vision, it would seem, | 50 |
| A still, an everlasting dream. | |
| |
| In yon green-wood there is a waik, | |
| And in that waik there is a wene, | |
| And in that wene there is a maike, | |
| That neither has flesh, blood, nor bane; | 55 |
| And down in yon green-wood he walks his lane. | |
| |
| In that green wene Kilmeny lay, | |
| Her bosom happ'd wi' flowerets gay; | |
| But the air was soft and the silence deep, | |
| And bonnie Kilmeny fell sound asleep. | 60 |
| She kenn'd nae mair, nor open'd her e'e, | |
| Till waked by the hymns of a far countrye. | |
| |
| She 'waken'd on a couch of the silk sae slim, | |
| All striped wi' the bars of the rainbow's rim; | |
| And lovely beings round were rife, | 65 |
| Who erst had travell'd mortal life; | |
| And aye they smiled and 'gan to speer, | |
| 'What spirit has brought this mortal here?'— | |
| |
| 'Lang have I journey'd, the world wide,' | |
| A meek and reverend fere replied; | 70 |
| 'Baith night and day I have watch'd the fair, | |
| Eident a thousand years and mair. | |
| Yes, I have watch'd o'er ilk degree, | |
| Wherever blooms femenitye; | |
| But sinless virgin, free of stain | 75 |
| In mind and body, fand I nane. | |
| Never, since the banquet of time, | |
| Found I a virgin in her prime, | |
| Till late this bonnie maiden I saw | |
| As spotless as the morning snaw: | 80 |
| Full twenty years she has lived as free | |
| As the spirits that sojourn in this countrye: | |
| I have brought her away frae the snares of men, | |
| That sin or death she never may ken.'— | |
| |
| They clasp'd her waist and her hands sae fair, | 85 |
| They kiss'd her cheek and they kemed her hair, | |
| And round came many a blooming fere, | |
| Saying, 'Bonnie Kilmeny, ye're welcome here! | |
| Women are freed of the littand scorn: | |
| O blest be the day Kilmeny was born! | 90 |
| Now shall the land of the spirits see, | |
| Now shall it ken what a woman may be! | |
| Many a lang year, in sorrow and pain, | |
| Many a lang year through the world we've gane, | |
| Commission'd to watch fair womankind, | 95 |
| For it 's they who nurice the immortal mind. | |
| We have watch'd their steps as the dawning shone, | |
| And deep in the green-wood walks alone; | |
| By lily bower and silken bed, | |
| The viewless tears have o'er them shed; | 100 |
| Have soothed their ardent minds to sleep, | |
| Or left the couch of love to weep. | |
| We have seen! we have seen! but the time must come, | |
| And the angels will weep at the day of doom! | |
| |
| 'O would the fairest of mortal kind | 105 |
| Aye keep the holy truths in mind, | |
| That kindred spirits their motions see, | |
| Who watch their ways with anxious e'e, | |
| And grieve for the guilt of humanitye! | |
| O, sweet to Heaven the maiden's prayer, | 110 |
| And the sigh that heaves a bosom sae fair! | |
| And dear to Heaven the words of truth, | |
| And the praise of virtue frae beauty's mouth! | |
| And dear to the viewless forms of air, | |
| The minds that kyth as the body fair! | 115 |
| |
| 'O bonnie Kilmeny! free frae stain, | |
| If ever you seek the world again, | |
| That world of sin, of sorrow and fear, | |
| O tell of the joys that are waiting here; | |
| And tell of the signs you shall shortly see; | 120 |
| Of the times that are now, and the times that shall be.'— | |
| They lifted Kilmeny, they led her away, | |
| And she walk'd in the light of a sunless day; | |
| The sky was a dome of crystal bright, | |
| The fountain of vision, and fountain of light: | 125 |
| The emerald fields were of dazzling glow, | |
| And the flowers of everlasting blow. | |
| Then deep in the stream her body they laid, | |
| That her youth and beauty never might fade; | |
| And they smiled on heaven, when they saw her lie | 130 |
| In the stream of life that wander'd bye. | |
| And she heard a song, she heard it sung, | |
| She kenn'd not where; but sae sweetly it rung, | |
| It fell on the ear like a dream of the morn: | |
| 'O, blest be the day Kilmeny was born! | 135 |
| Now shall the land of the spirits see, | |
| Now shall it ken what a woman may be! | |
| The sun that shines on the world sae bright, | |
| A borrow'd gleid frae the fountain of light; | |
| And the moon that sleeks the sky sae dun, | 140 |
| Like a gouden bow, or a beamless sun, | |
| Shall wear away, and be seen nae mair, | |
| And the angels shall miss them travelling the air. | |
| But lang, lang after baith night and day, | |
| When the sun and the world have elyed away; | 145 |
| When the sinner has gane to his waesome doom, | |
| Kilmeny shall smile in eternal bloom!'— | |
| |
| They bore her away, she wist not how, | |
| For she felt not arm nor rest below; | |
| But so swift they wain'd her through the light, | 150 |
| 'Twas like the motion of sound or sight; | |
| They seem'd to split the gales of air, | |
| And yet nor gale nor breeze was there. | |
| Unnumber'd groves below them grew, | |
| They came, they pass'd, and backward flew, | 155 |
| Like floods of blossoms gliding on, | |
| In moment seen, in moment gone. | |
| O, never vales to mortal view | |
| Appear'd like those o'er which they flew! | |
| That land to human spirits given, | 160 |
| The lowermost vales of the storied heaven; | |
| From thence they can view the world below, | |
| And heaven's blue gates with sapphires glow, | |
| More glory yet unmeet to know. | |
| |
| They bore her far to a mountain green, | 165 |
| To see what mortal never had seen; | |
| And they seated her high on a purple sward, | |
| And bade her heed what she saw and heard, | |
| And note the changes the spirits wrought, | |
| For now she lived in the land of thought. | 170 |
| She look'd, and she saw nor sun nor skies, | |
| But a crystal dome of a thousand dyes: | |
| She look'd, and she saw nae land aright, | |
| But an endless whirl of glory and light: | |
| And radiant beings went and came, | 175 |
| Far swifter than wind, or the linkèd flame. | |
| She hid her e'en frae the dazzling view; | |
| She look'd again, and the scene was new. | |
| |
| She saw a sun on a summer sky, | |
| And clouds of amber sailing bye; | 180 |
| A lovely land beneath her lay, | |
| And that land had glens and mountains gray; | |
| And that land had valleys and hoary piles, | |
| And marlèd seas, and a thousand isles. | |
| Its fields were speckled, its forests green, | 185 |
| And its lakes were all of the dazzling sheen, | |
| Like magic mirrors, where slumbering lay | |
| The sun and the sky and the cloudlet gray; | |
| Which heaved and trembled, and gently swung, | |
| On every shore they seem'd to be hung; | 190 |
| For there they were seen on their downward plain | |
| A thousand times and a thousand again; | |
| In winding lake and placid firth, | |
| Little peaceful heavens in the bosom of earth. | |
| |
| Kilmeny sigh'd and seem'd to grieve, | 195 |
| For she found her heart to that land did cleave; | |
| She saw the corn wave on the vale, | |
| She saw the deer run down the dale; | |
| She saw the plaid and the broad claymore, | |
| And the brows that the badge of freedom bore; | 200 |
| And she thought she had seen the land before. | |
| |
| She saw a lady sit on a throne, | |
| The fairest that ever the sun shone on! | |
| A lion lick'd her hand of milk, | |
| And she held him in a leish of silk; | 205 |
| And a leifu' maiden stood at her knee, | |
| With a silver wand and melting e'e; | |
| Her sovereign shield till love stole in, | |
| And poison'd all the fount within. | |
| |
| Then a gruff untoward bedesman came, | 210 |
| And hundit the lion on his dame; | |
| And the guardian maid wi' the dauntless e'e, | |
| She dropp'd a tear, and left her knee; | |
| And she saw till the queen frae the lion fled, | |
| Till the bonniest flower of the world lay dead; | 215 |
| A coffin was set on a distant plain, | |
| And she saw the red blood fall like rain; | |
| Then bonnie Kilmeny's heart grew sair, | |
| And she turn'd away, and could look nae mair. | |
| |
| Then the gruff grim carle girn'd amain, | 220 |
| And they trampled him down, but he rose again; | |
| And he baited the lion to deeds of weir, | |
| Till he lapp'd the blood to the kingdom dear; | |
| And weening his head was danger-preef, | |
| When crown'd with the rose and clover leaf, | 225 |
| He gowl'd at the carle, and chased him away | |
| To feed wi' the deer on the mountain gray. | |
| He gowl'd at the carle, and geck'd at Heaven, | |
| But his mark was set, and his arles given. | |
| Kilmeny a while her e'en withdrew; | 230 |
| She look'd again, and the scene was new. | |
| |
| She saw before her fair unfurl'd | |
| One half of all the glowing world, | |
| Where oceans roll'd, and rivers ran, | |
| To bound the aims of sinful man. | 235 |
| She saw a people, fierce and fell, | |
| Burst frae their bounds like fiends of hell; | |
| Their lilies grew, and the eagle flew; | |
| And she herkèd on her ravening crew, | |
| Till the cities and towers were wrapp'd in a blaze, | 240 |
| And the thunder it roar'd o'er the lands and the seas. | |
| The widows they wail'd, and the red blood ran, | |
| And she threaten'd an end to the race of man; | |
| She never lened, nor stood in awe, | |
| Till caught by the lion's deadly paw. | 245 |
| O, then the eagle swink'd for life, | |
| And brainyell'd up a mortal strife; | |
| But flew she north, or flew she south, | |
| She met wi' the gowl o' the lion's mouth. | |
| |
| With a mooted wing and waefu' maen, | 250 |
| The eagle sought her eiry again; | |
| But lang may she cower in her bloody nest, | |
| And lang, lang sleek her wounded breast, | |
| Before she sey another flight, | |
| To play wi' the norland lion's might. | 255 |
| |
| But to sing the sights Kilmeny saw, | |
| So far surpassing nature's law, | |
| The singer's voice wad sink away, | |
| And the string of his harp wad cease to play. | |
| But she saw till the sorrows of man were bye, | 260 |
| And all was love and harmony; | |
| Till the stars of heaven fell calmly away, | |
| Like flakes of snaw on a winter day. | |
| |
| Then Kilmeny begg'd again to see | |
| The friends she had left in her own countrye; | 265 |
| To tell of the place where she had been, | |
| And the glories that lay in the land unseen; | |
| To warn the living maidens fair, | |
| The loved of Heaven, the spirits' care, | |
| That all whose minds unmeled remain | 270 |
| Shall bloom in beauty when time is gane. | |
| |
| With distant music, soft and deep, | |
| They lull'd Kilmeny sound asleep; | |
| And when she awaken'd, she lay her lane, | |
| All happ'd with flowers, in the green-wood wene. | 275 |
| When seven lang years had come and fled, | |
| When grief was calm, and hope was dead; | |
| When scarce was remember'd Kilmeny's name, | |
| Late, late in a gloamin' Kilmeny came hame! | |
| And O, her beauty was fair to see, | 280 |
| But still and steadfast was her e'e! | |
| Such beauty bard may never declare, | |
| For there was no pride nor passion there; | |
| And the soft desire of maiden's e'en | |
| In that mild face could never be seen. | 285 |
| Her seymar was the lily flower, | |
| And her cheek the moss-rose in the shower; | |
| And her voice like the distant melodye, | |
| That floats along the twilight sea. | |
| But she loved to raike the lanely glen, | 290 |
| And keepèd afar frae the haunts of men; | |
| Her holy hymns unheard to sing, | |
| To suck the flowers, and drink the spring. | |
| But wherever her peaceful form appear'd, | |
| The wild beasts of the hill were cheer'd; | 295 |
| The wolf play'd blythly round the field, | |
| The lordly byson low'd and kneel'd; | |
| The dun deer woo'd with manner bland, | |
| And cower'd aneath her lily hand. | |
| And when at even the woodlands rung, | 300 |
| When hymns of other worlds she sung | |
| In ecstasy of sweet devotion, | |
| O, then the glen was all in motion! | |
| The wild beasts of the forest came, | |
| Broke from their bughts and faulds the tame, | 305 |
| And goved around, charm'd and amazed; | |
| Even the dull cattle croon'd and gazed, | |
| And murmur'd and look'd with anxious pain | |
| For something the mystery to explain. | |
| The buzzard came with the throstle-cock; | 310 |
| The corby left her houf in the rock; | |
| The blackbird alang wi' the eagle flew; | |
| The hind came tripping o'er the dew; | |
| The wolf and the kid their raike began, | |
| And the tod, and the lamb, and the leveret ran; | 315 |
| The hawk and the hern attour them hung, | |
| And the merle and the mavis forhooy'd their young; | |
| And all in a peaceful ring were hurl'd; | |
| It was like an eve in a sinless world! | |
| |
| When a month and a day had come and gane. | 320 |
| Kilmeny sought the green-wood wene; | |
| There laid her down on the leaves sae green, | |
| And Kilmeny on earth was never mair seen. | |
| But O, the words that fell from her mouth | |
| Were words of wonder, and words of truth! | 325 |
| But all the land were in fear and dread, | |
| For they kendna whether she was living or dead. | |
| It wasna her hame, and she couldna remain; | |
| She left this world of sorrow and pain, | |
| And return'd to the land of thought again. | 330 |
