In the stream of life that wandered by. And she heard a song, she heard it sung, She ken'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! 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 borrowed gleid1 frae the fountain of light;

And the moon that sleeks2 the sky sae dun, Like a gouden3 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 nicht and day, When the sun and the world have fled

away;

When the sinner has gane to his waesome

doom,

Kilmeny shall smile in eternal bloom!"'

160

165

Like floods of blossoms gliding on,
A moment seen, in a moment gone.
Ah! never vales to mortal view
That land to human spirits given,
Appeared like those o'er which they flew,

The lowermost vales of the storied heaven;
From thence they can view the world be-

low,

And heaven's blue gates with sapphires glow.

More glory yet unmeet to know.

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,

dead;

Kilmeny sighed and seemed to grieve,

220

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 turned away, and could look nae
mair.

Then the gruff, grim carle1 girned amain,

And they trampled him down, but he rose again;

And he baited3 the lion to deeds of weir, Till he lapped the blood to the kingdom dear;

And weening his head was danger preef," 225 When crowned with the rose and clover leaf,

230

He gowled at the carle, and chased him away,

To feed wi' the deer on the mountain gray. He gowled 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 before her fair unfurled
One-half of all the glowing world,
Where oceans rolled, and rivers ran,

hame.

280 And 0, 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 maiden's een
285 In that mild face could never be seen.
Her seymar1 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.
290 But she loved to raikes the lanely glen,
And keep afar frae the haunts of men,
Her holy hymns unheard to sing,

To suck the flowers, and drink the spring;

7

The hawk and the hern attour them hung, And the merle and the mavis forhooyed" their young;

And all in a peaceful ring were hurledIt was like an eve in a sinless world!

When a month and a day had come and

gane,

Kilmeny sought the greenwood wene; There laid her down on the leaves sae

green,

And Kilmeny on earth was never mair

seen.

But O! the words that fell frae her mouth

Were words of wonder, and words of

truth!

I'm up in the air on my bonnie gray

mare,

But I see her yet, I see her yet. 5 I'll ring the skirts o' the gowden wain' Wi' curb an' bit, wi' curb an' bit: An' catch the Bear by the frozen maneAn' I see her yet, I see her yet.

Away, away, o'er mountain an' main, 10 To sing at the morning's rosy yett;2 An' water my mare at its fountain clearBut I see her yet, I see her yet. Away, thou bonnie witch o' Fife,

On foam of the air to heave an' flit, 15 An' little reck thou of a poet's life, For he sees thee yet, he sees thee yet!

A BOY'S SONG 1840

Where the pools are bright and deep,
Where the gray trout lies asleep,
Up the river and o'er the lea,
That's the way for Billy and me.

5 Where the blackbird sings the latest, Where the hawthorn blooms the sweetest, Where the nestlings chirp and flee, That's the way for Billy and me.

Where the mowers mow the cleanest,

10 Where the hay lies thick and greenest;

There to trace the homeward bee,
That's the way for Billy and me.

Where the hazel bank is steepest,
Where the shadow falls the deepest,
15 Where the clustering nuts fall free,
That's the way for Billy and me.

Why the boys should drive away
Little maidens from their play,
Or love to banter and fight so well,
20 That's the thing I never could tell.

But this I know, I love to play,
Through the meadow, among the hay:
Up the water and o'er the lea,
That's the way for Billy and me.

Wilt thou shrink from the doom thou can

shun not, M'Kimman?

Wilt thou shrink from the doom thou
can shun not?

If thy course must be brief, let the proud
Saxon know

25 That the soul of M'Kimman ne'er quail'd when a foe

Bared his blade in a land he had won not.

Where the light-footed roe leaves the wild breeze behind,

And the red heather-bloom gives its sweets to the wind

There our broad pennon flies, and our keen steeds are prancing

30 'Mid the startling war-cries, and the bright weapons glancing!

Then raise the wild slogan-cry, On to the foray!

Sons of the heather-hill, pinewood, and glen;

Shout for M'Pherson, M'Leod, and the Moray,

Till the Lomonds re-echo the challenge again!

LOCK THE DOOR, LARISTON

1840

"Lock the door, Lariston, lion of Liddes

dale;

Lock the door, Lariston, Lowther comes on;

The Armstrongs are flying,
The widows are crying,

5 The Castletown's burning, and Oliver's

gone!

"Lock the door, Lariston-high on the weather-gleam

Little know you of our moss-troopers'1 might

Linhope and Sorbie true,
Sundhope and Milburn too,

30 Gentle in manner, but lions in fight!

"I have Mangerton, Ogilvie, Raeburn, and Netherbie,

Old Sim of Whitram, and all his array; Come all Northumberland, Teesdale and Cumberland, 35 Here at the Breaken tower end shall the fray!"

Scowled the broad sun o'er the links2 of green Liddesdale,

Red as the beacon-light tipped he the wold ;3

Many a bold martial eye
Mirror'd that morning sky,

sky