And yet nor gale nor breeze was there. In moment seen, in moment gone. Appear'd like those o'er which they flew! The lowermost vales of the storied heaven; They bore her far to a mountain green, And they seated her high on a purple sward, She saw a sun on a summer sky, And that land had glens and mountains gray; 30 Parti-colored. For there they were seen on their downward plain A thousand times and a thousand again; In winding lake and placid firth, Little peaceful heavens in the bosom of earth. For she found her heart to that land did cleave; She saw the deer run down the dale, She saw the plaid and the broad claymore, She saw a lady sit on a throne, The fairest that ever the sun shone on! And she held him in a leish of silk; Then a gruff untoward bedesman came, And the guardian maid wi' the dauntless e'e, And she saw till the queen frae the lion fled, And she saw the red blood fall like rain; Then bonnie Kilmeny's heart grew sair, And she turn'd away, and could look nae mair. Then the gruff grim carle" girn'd" amain, 31 Loyal. To feed wi' the deer on the mountain gray. She saw a people, fierce and fell, Burst frae their bounds like fiends of hell; There lilies grew, and the eagle flew; And she herkèd" on her ravening crew, Till the cities and towers were wrapp'd in a blaze, But lang may she cower in her bloody nest, To play wi' the norland lion's might. 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. And all was love and harmony; Till the stars of heaven fell calmly away, Like flakes of snaw on a winter day. 36 Earnest money; fig. a beating. 40 Stirred. 41 Howl. 37 Urged. 38 Crouched. 42 Moulted. 43 Try. 39 Worked. |