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, 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; 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 lull’d Kilmeny sound asleep; And when she awaken’d, she lay her lane, All happ’d with flowers, in the green-wood wene. 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, But still and steadfast was her e’e! Such beauty bard may never declare, For there was no pride nor passion there; sey] essay. unmeled] unblemished. her lane] alone, by herself. And the soft desire of maiden’s e’en 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 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; 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, 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, 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; The corby left her houf in the rock; The blackbird alang wi’ the eagle flew; The hind came tripping o’er the dew; seymar]=cymar, a slight covering. raike] range, wander. bughts] milking-pens. goved] stared, gazed. corby] raven. houf] haunt. 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 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!