"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. 32 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,- In yon green-wood there is a waik, That neither has flesh, blood, nor bane; In that green wene Kilmeny lay, Her bosom happed wi' the flowerets gay; 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; 62 And aye they smiled, and 'gan to speer: "What spirit has brought this mortal here?" 68 "Lang have I journeyed the world wide," A meek and reverend fere replied; "Baith night and day I have watched the fair Yes, I have watched o'er ilk degree, 80 Full twenty years she has lived as free As the spirits that sojourn in this countrye. 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, Saying, "Bonny Kilmeny, ye're welcome here; 84 Many a lang year through the world we 've gane For it 's they who nurice the immortal mind. shone, And deep in the greenwood walks alone; By lily bower and silken bed The viewless tears have o'er them shed; Have soothed their ardent minds to sleep, Or left the couch of love to weep. We have seen! we have seen! but the time must come, And the angels will weep at the day of doom! 104 "O, would the fairest of mortal kind Aye keep the holy truths in mind, That kindred spirits their motions see, "O bonny Kilmeny! free frae stain, If ever you seek the world again,That world of sin, of sorrow and fear,O, tell of the joys that are waiting here; And tell of the signs you shall shortly see; Of the times that are now, and the times that shall be." 115 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, 121 The fountain of vision, and fountain of light; lie In the stream of life that wandered by. And she heard a song,-she heard it sung, 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, But lang, lang after baith night and day, 147 They bore her away, she wist not how, But so swift they wained her through the light, Appeared like those o'er which they flew, The lowermost vales of the storied heaven: |