Kilmeny

(A Story about one who went there)

Bonny Kilmeny gaed[6]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[7]sing,And pull the blue cress-flower round the spring;To pull the hip and the hindberrye[8],And the nut that hung frae the hazel-tree;For Kilmeny was pure as pure could be.But lang may her minnie[9]look o’er the wa’,And lang may she seek in the greenwood shaw;Lang the Laird o’ Duneira blame,And lang, lang greet[10]e’er 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-bell rung;Late, late in a gloaming, when all was still,When the fringe was red on the westlin[11]hill,The wood was sere, the moon i’ the wane,The reek[12]of the cot hung o’er the plain,Like a little wee cloud in the world its lane[13];When the ingle[14]lowed[15]with an eery gleam,Late, late in the gloamin’, Kilmeny came hame!“Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been?Lang hae we sought baith holt and dene;By linn[16], by ford, and green-wood tree,Yet you are halesome and fair to see.Where gat you that joup[17]of the lily sheen?That bonny snood[18]of the birk[19]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 ee,As the stillness that lay on the emerald 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,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;The land of vision it would seem,And still an everlasting dream.......They lifted Kilmeny, they led her away,And she walk’d 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 might never fade;And they smiled on heaven, when they saw her lieIn the stream of life that wander’d by.And she heard a song, she heard it sung,She kenn’d not where; but so sweetly it rung,It fell on the ear like a dream of the morn:“O blest be the day Kilmeny was born!”......To sing of the sights Kilmeny saw,So far surpassing nature’s law,The singer’s voice would sink away,And the string of his harp would cease to play.But she saw till the sorrows of man were by,And all was love and harmony;Till the stars of heaven fell calmly away,Like the flakes of snow on a winter day.......When seven lang years had come and fled,When grief was calm and hope was dead;When scarce was remembered Kilmeny’s name,Late, late in a gloaming Kilmeny came hame!And O, her beauty was fair to see,But still and steadfast was her ee!Her seymar[20]was the lily flower,And her cheek the moss-rose in the shower;And her voice like the distant melodyThat floats along the twilight sea.But she loved to raike[21]the lanely glen,And keepit away 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 bison low’d and kneel’d;The dun deer woo’d with manner bland,And cower’d aneath her lily hand.And all in a peaceful ring were hurl’d;It was like an eve in a sinless world!When a month and a 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.

Bonny Kilmeny gaed[6]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[7]sing,

And pull the blue cress-flower round the spring;

To pull the hip and the hindberrye[8],

And the nut that hung frae the hazel-tree;

For Kilmeny was pure as pure could be.

But lang may her minnie[9]look o’er the wa’,

And lang may she seek in the greenwood shaw;

Lang the Laird o’ Duneira blame,

And lang, lang greet[10]e’er 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-bell rung;Late, late in a gloaming, when all was still,When the fringe was red on the westlin[11]hill,The wood was sere, the moon i’ the wane,The reek[12]of the cot hung o’er the plain,Like a little wee cloud in the world its lane[13];When the ingle[14]lowed[15]with an eery gleam,Late, late in the gloamin’, Kilmeny came 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-bell rung;

Late, late in a gloaming, when all was still,

When the fringe was red on the westlin[11]hill,

The wood was sere, the moon i’ the wane,

The reek[12]of the cot hung o’er the plain,

Like a little wee cloud in the world its lane[13];

When the ingle[14]lowed[15]with an eery gleam,

Late, late in the gloamin’, Kilmeny came hame!

“Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been?Lang hae we sought baith holt and dene;By linn[16], by ford, and green-wood tree,Yet you are halesome and fair to see.Where gat you that joup[17]of the lily sheen?That bonny snood[18]of the birk[19]sae green?And these roses, the fairest that ever were seen?Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been?”

“Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been?

Lang hae we sought baith holt and dene;

By linn[16], by ford, and green-wood tree,

Yet you are halesome and fair to see.

Where gat you that joup[17]of the lily sheen?

That bonny snood[18]of the birk[19]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 ee,As the stillness that lay on the emerald 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,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;The land of vision it would seem,And still an everlasting dream.

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 ee,

As the stillness that lay on the emerald 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,

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;

The land of vision it would seem,

And still an everlasting dream.

......

They lifted Kilmeny, they led her away,And she walk’d 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 might never fade;And they smiled on heaven, when they saw her lieIn the stream of life that wander’d by.And she heard a song, she heard it sung,She kenn’d not where; but so sweetly it rung,It fell on the ear like a dream of the morn:“O blest be the day Kilmeny was born!”

They lifted Kilmeny, they led her away,

And she walk’d 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 might never fade;

And they smiled on heaven, when they saw her lie

In the stream of life that wander’d by.

And she heard a song, she heard it sung,

She kenn’d not where; but so sweetly it rung,

It fell on the ear like a dream of the morn:

“O blest be the day Kilmeny was born!”

......

To sing of the sights Kilmeny saw,So far surpassing nature’s law,The singer’s voice would sink away,And the string of his harp would cease to play.But she saw till the sorrows of man were by,And all was love and harmony;Till the stars of heaven fell calmly away,Like the flakes of snow on a winter day.

To sing of the sights Kilmeny saw,

So far surpassing nature’s law,

The singer’s voice would sink away,

And the string of his harp would cease to play.

But she saw till the sorrows of man were by,

And all was love and harmony;

Till the stars of heaven fell calmly away,

Like the flakes of snow on a winter day.

......

When seven lang years had come and fled,When grief was calm and hope was dead;When scarce was remembered Kilmeny’s name,Late, late in a gloaming Kilmeny came hame!And O, her beauty was fair to see,But still and steadfast was her ee!Her seymar[20]was the lily flower,And her cheek the moss-rose in the shower;And her voice like the distant melodyThat floats along the twilight sea.But she loved to raike[21]the lanely glen,And keepit away 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 bison low’d and kneel’d;The dun deer woo’d with manner bland,And cower’d aneath her lily hand.And all in a peaceful ring were hurl’d;It was like an eve in a sinless world!

When seven lang years had come and fled,

When grief was calm and hope was dead;

When scarce was remembered Kilmeny’s name,

Late, late in a gloaming Kilmeny came hame!

And O, her beauty was fair to see,

But still and steadfast was her ee!

Her seymar[20]was the lily flower,

And her cheek the moss-rose in the shower;

And her voice like the distant melody

That floats along the twilight sea.

But she loved to raike[21]the lanely glen,

And keepit away 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 bison low’d and kneel’d;

The dun deer woo’d with manner bland,

And cower’d aneath her lily hand.

And all in a peaceful ring were hurl’d;

It was like an eve in a sinless world!

When a month and a 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.

When a month and a 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.

James Hogg.

[6]gaed: went.

[7]yorlin: yellow-hammer.

[8]hindberrye: wild raspberry.

[9]minnie: mother.

[10]greet: weep.

[11]westlin: western.

[12]reek: smoke.

[13]its lane: alone.

[14]ingle: fire.

[15]lowed: flamed.

[16]linn: waterfall.

[17]joup: bodice.

[18]snood: hair-ribbon.

[19]birk: birch.

[20]seymar: a light robe.

[21]raike: wander through.

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