With eager appetite, for long had been My journey, and I left the spot refreshed.
"And then we wandered off amid the groves Of coral loftier than the growths of earth; The mightiest cedar lifts no trunk like theirs, So huge, so high, toward heaven, nor overhangs Alleys and bowers so dim. We moved between Pinnacles of black rock, which, from beneath, Molten by inner fires, so said my guide, Gushed long ago into the hissing brine, That quenched and hardened them, and now they stand
Motionless in the currents of the sea
That part and flow around them. As we went, We looked into the hollows of the abyss, To which the never-resting waters sweep The skeletons of sharks, the long white spines Of narwhal and of dolphin, bones of men Shipwrecked, and mighty ribs of foundered barks; Down the blue pits we looked, and hastened on. "But beautiful the fountains of the sea Sprang upward from its bed; the silvery jets Shot branching far into the azure brine, And where they mingled with it, the great deep Quivered and shook, as shakes the glimmering air Above a furnace. So we wandered through The mighty world of waters, till at length I wearied of its wonders, and my heart Began to yearn for my dear mountain-home. I prayed my gentle guide to lead me back
To the upper air. 'A glorious realm,' I said,
Is this thou openest to me, but I stray Bewildered in its vastness, these strange sights And this strange light oppress me. I must see The faces that I love, or I shall die.' "She took my hand, and, darting through the
Brought me to where the stream, by which we came, Rushed into the main ocean. Then began A slower journey upward. Wearily We breasted the strong current, climbing through The rapids tossing high their foam. The night Came down, and, in the clear depth of a pool, Edged with o'erhanging rock, we took our rest Till morning; and I slept, and dreamed of home And thee. A pleasant sight the morning showed; The green fields of this upper world, the herds That grazed the bank, the light on the red clouds, The trees, with all their host of trembling leaves, Lifting and lowering to the restless wind Their branches. As I woke I saw them all From the clear stream; yet strangely was my heart Parted between the watery world and this, And as we journeyed upward, oft I thought Of marvels I had seen, and stopped and turned, And lingered, till I thought of thee again; And then again I turned and clambered up The rivulet's murmuring path, until we came
BONNY 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, And pu' the cress-flower round the spring, The scarlet hypp, and the hind berry, 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', And lang may she seek i' the green-wood shaw; Lang the laird of 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, When mass for Kilmeny's soul had been sung, When the bedesman had prayed, and the dead
Late, late in a gloamin, when all was still, When the fringe was red on the westlin hill, The wood was sear, the moon i' the wane, The reek o' the cot hung over the plain, Like a little wee cloud in the world its lane; When the ingle lowed with an eiry leme, Late, late in the gloamin Kilmeny came hame !
"Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been? By linn, by ford, and green-wood tree ; Lang hae we sought both holt and den, Yet you are halesome and fair to see. That bonny snood of the birk sae green? Where got you that joup o' the lily sheen? And these roses, the fairest that ever was seen? Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been?”
Kilmeny looked up with a lovely grace, But nae smile was seen on Kilmeny's face; As still was her look, and as still was her ee, 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, Where the rain never fell, and the wind never blew; But it seemed as the harp of the sky had rung, And the airs of heaven played round her tongue, When she spake of the lovely forms she had seen, And a land where sin had never been, - 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, 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; And down in yon green-wood he walks his lane. In that green wene Kilmeny lay, Her bosom happed wi' the flowerets gay; But the air was soft, and the silence deep, And bonny Kilmeny fell sound asleep; She kend nae mair, nor opened her ee, Till waked by the hymns of a far countrye.
She wakened on a couch of the silk sae slim, All striped wi' the bars of the rainbow's rim; And lovely beings around were rife, Who erst had travelled mortal life; And aye they smiled, and 'gan to speer: "What spirit has brought this mortal here?"
"Lang have I journeyed the world wide," A meek and reverend fere replied; "Baith night and day I have watched the fair Eident a thousand years and mair. Yes, I have watched o'er ilk degree,
Wherever blooms femenitye; But sinless virgin, free of stain, In mind and body, fand I nane. Never, since the banquet of time, Found I a virgin in her prime, Till late this bonny maiden I saw, As spotless as the morning snaw. 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 may never ken."
They clasped her waist and her hands sae fair; They kissed her cheek, and they kemed her hair; And round came many a blooming fere,
They lifted Kilmeny, they led her away, And she walked in the light of a sunless day; The sky was a dome of crystal bright, The fountain of vision, and fountain of light ; 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 In the stream of life that wandered by. And she heard a song, she heard it sung, She kend not where; but sae sweetly it rung, It fell on her ear like a dream of the morn, "O, blest be the day Kilmeny was born! Now shall the land of the spirits see, Now shall it ken, what a woman may be!"
They bore her far to a mountain green, 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. She looked, and she saw nor sun nor skies, But a crystal dome of a thousand dies; She looked, and she saw nae land aright, But an endless whirl of glory and light; And radiant beings went and came, Far swifter than wind or the linked flame; She hid her een frae the dazzling view; She looked again, and the scene was new.
She saw a sun on a summer sky, And clouds of amber sailing by ;
A lovely land beneath her lay,
And that land had glens and mountains gray; And that land had valleys and hoary piles, And marled seas, and a thousand isles; Its fields were speckled, its forests green, 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 seemed to be hung; 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 sighed and seemed to grieve, 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;
Saying, "Bonny Kilmeny, ye 're welcome here; She saw the plaid and the broad claymore,
Women are freed of the littand scorn; O, blest be the day Kilmeny was born! Now shall the land of the spirits see, Now shall it ken, what a woman may be !"
And the brows that the badge of freedom bore; And she thought she had seen the land before.
Then Kilmeny begged again to see The friends she had left in her own countrye,
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 Shall bloom in beauty when time is gane.
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. When seven long years had come and fled; When grief was calm, and hope was dead; When scarce was remembered Kilmeny's name, Late, late in a gloamin, Kilmeny came hame! And O, her beauty was fair to see, But still and steadfast was her ee! Such beauty bard may never declare,
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; And her voice like the distant melodye 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. But wherever her peaceful form appeared, The wild beasts of the hills were cheered; The wolf played blythely round the field; The lordly byson lowed and kneeled ; The dun deer wooed with manner bland, And cowered aneath her lily hand. And when at even the woodlands rung, 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, And goved around, charmed and amazed; Even the dull cattle crooned and gazed, And murmured, and looked with anxious pain For something the mystery to explain. The buzzard came with the throstle-cock, 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 ; The hawk and the hern attour them hung, And the merland 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, 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! But all the land were in fear and dread, For they kend na whether she was living or dead. It wasna her hame, and she couldna remain ; She left this world of sorrow and pain, And returned to the land of thought again. JAMES HOGG
Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We dare n't go a hunting
For fear of little men; Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together; Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl's feather!
Down along the rocky shore
Some make their home, - They live on crispy pancakes Of yellow tide-foam ; Some in the reeds
Of the black mountain-lake, With frogs for their watch-dogs, All night awake.
High on the hill-top
The old king sits; He is now so old and gray He's nigh lost his wits. With a bridge of white mist Columbkill he crosses, On his stately journeys From Slieveleague to Rosses; Or going up with music
On cold starry nights, To sup with the queen
Of the gay Northern Lights. They stole little Bridget
For seven years long; When she came down again Her friends were all gone. They took her lightly back, Between the night and morrow; They thought that she was fast asleep, But she was dead with sorrow. They have kept her ever since
Deep within the lakes, On a bed of flag-leaves, Watching till she wakes. By the craggy hillside, Through the mosses bare,
COME here, come here, and dwell In forest deep!
Come here, come here, and tell Why thou dost weep!
Is it for love (sweet pain !)
That thus thou dar'st complain
Unto our pleasant shades, our summer leaves, Where naught else grieves?
Come here, come here, and lie
By whispering stream!
Here no one dares to die
For love's sweet dream;
But health all seek, and joy,
And shun perverse annoy,
And race along green paths till close of day, And laugh- alway!
Or else, through half the year,
On rushy floor,
We lie by waters clear, While skylarks pour
Their songs into the sun!
And when bright day is done,
We hide 'neath bells of flowers or nodding corn, And dream till morn!
RING, sing! ring, sing! pleasant Sabbath bells! Chime, rhyme chime, rhyme! thorough dales and dells!
Rhyme, ring! chime, sing! pleasant Sabbath bells!
Chime, sing! rhyme, ring! over fields and fells!
And I galloped and I galloped on my palfrey white as milk,
My robe was of the sea-green woof, my serk was of the silk;
"My hair was golden yellow, and it floated to my shoe;
My eyes were like two harebells bathed in little
My palfrey, never stopping, made a music sweetly blent
With the leaves of autumn dropping all around me
And I heard the bells, grown fainter, far behind me peal and play,
Fainter, fainter, fainter, till they seemed to die away;
And beside a silver runnel, on a little heap o
I saw the green gnome sitting, with his cheek | And we saw the kirk before us, as we trotted upon his hand. down the fells,
Then he started up to see me, and he ran with And nearer, clearer, o'er us, rang the welcome of
And as I named the Blessed Name, as in our need we can,
The ugly green green gnome became a tall and comely man
His hands were white, his beard was gold, his eyes were black as sloes,
His tunic was of scarlet woof, and silken were his hose;
A pensive light from Faëryland still lingered on his cheek,
His voice was like the running brook, when he began to speak;
"O, you have cast away the charm my step-dame put on me,
Seven years I dwelt in Faeryland, and you have set me free.
O, I will mount thy palfrey white, and ride to kirk with thee,
And, by those little dewy eyes, we twain will wedded be!"
Back we galloped, never stopping, he before and I behind,
And the autumn leaves were dropping, red and yellow, in the wind:
And the sun was shining clearer, and my heart was high and proud,
As nearer, nearer, nearer rang the kirk bells sweet and loud,
Ring, sing ring, sing! pleasant Sabbath bells! Chime, rhyme! chime, rhyme! thorough dales and dells!
Rhyme, ring! chime, sing! pleasant Sabbath bells!
Chime, sing! rhyme, ring! over fields and fells!
LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI.
"O, WHAT can ail thee, knight-at-arms, Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake, And no birds sing.
"O, what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, So haggard and so woe-begone? The squirrel's granary is full,
And the harvest 's done.
"I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and feyer-dew, And on thy cheeks a fading rose Fast withereth too."
"I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful, a fairy's child, Her hair was long, her foot was light, And her eyes were wild.
"I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone; She looked at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.
"I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long; For sidelong would she bend, and sing A fairy's song.
"She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild and manna-dew; And sure in language strange she said, 'I love thee true.'
"She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept, and sighed full sore; And there I shut her wild, wild eyes With kisses four.
"And there she lulléd me asleep,
And there I dreamed-ah, woe betide! The latest dream I ever dreamed On the cold hill's side.
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