She saw the plaid and the broad claymore, She saw a lady sit on a throne, The fairest that ever the sun shone on: Then a gruff untoward bedesman came, And the guardian maid wi' the dauntless ee, And she saw the red blood fall like rain: And she turned away, and could look nae mair. Then the gruff grim carle girnèd amain, And they trampled him down, but he rose again; And he baited the lion to deeds of weir, Till he lapped the blood to the kingdom dear; And weening his head was danger-preef, When crowned with the rose and clover leaf, He growled at the carle, and chased him away To feed wi' the deer on the mountain gray. He growled at the carle, and he gecked at Heaven; But his mark was set, and his arles given. Kilmeny a while her een withdrew; She looked again, and the scene was new. She saw below her fair unfurled Burst frae their bounds like fiends of hell; And she herked on her ravening crew, Till the cities and towers were wrapt in a blaze, And the thunder it roared o'er the lands and the seas. The widows they wailed, and the red blood ran, With a mooted wing and waefu' maen, But lang may she cower in her bloody nest, To play wi' the norland lion's might. 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 by, Till the stars of heaven fell calmly away, Then Kilmeny begged again to see The friends she had left in her own countrye, The loved of heaven, the spirits' care, With distant music, soft and deep, They lulled Kilmeny sound asleep; And when she awakened, she lay her lane, All happed with flowers in the green-wood wene. But still and steadfast was her ee! For there was no pride nor passion there; And the soft desire of maidens' een In that mild face could never be seen. Her seymar was the lily flower, And her cheek the moss-rose in the shower; That floats along the twilight sea. But she loved to raike the lanely glen, And keeped afar frae the haunts of men; Her holy hymns unheard to sing, To suck the flowers and drink the spring. O, then the glen was all in motion! Broke from their bughts and faulds the tame, And the tod, and the lamb, and the leveret ran; The hawk and the hern attour them hung, And the merl and the mavis forhooyed their young; And all in a peaceful ring were hurled : It was like an eve in a sinless world! When a month and day had come and gane, But O the words that fell from her mouth Were words of wonder, and words of truth! But all the land were in fear and dread, For they kend na whether she was living or dead. And returned to the land of thought again. JAMES HOGG. THE FAIRY CHILD. THE summer sun was sinking With a mild light, calm and mellow; The robin was singing sweetly, And his song was sad and tender; And my little boy's eyes, while he heard the song, Smiled with a sweet, soft splendor. My little boy lay on my bosom While his soul the song was quaffing; The joy of his soul had tinged his cheek, And his heart and his eye were laughing. I sate alone in my cottage, The midnight needle plying; I feared for my child, for the rush's light There came a hand to my lonely latch, I knelt to pray, but rose again, For I heard my little boy groaning. |