‘Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been? 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? 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, 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 seem’d as the harp of the sky had rung, And the airs of heaven play’d round her tongue, westlin] western. its lane] alone, by itself. low’d] flamed. eiry leme] eery gleam. linn] waterfall. joup] mantle. 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 happ’d wi’ flowerets gay; But the air was soft and the silence deep, And bonnie Kilmeny fell sound asleep. 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, 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; ‘Baith night and day I have watch’d the fair, Eident a thousand years and mair. swa’d] swelled. waik] a row of deep damp grass. wene]? whin, a furze-bush. maike] a mate, match, equal. his lane] alone, by himself. happ’d] covered. speer] inquire. fere] fellow. eident] unintermittently.