She saw before her fair unfurl’d
One half of all the glowing world,
Where oceans roll’d, and rivers ran,
To bound the aims of sinful man.
She saw a people, fierce and fell,
Burst frae their bounds like fiends of hell;
Their lilies grew, and the eagle flew;
And she herkèd on her ravening crew,
Till the cities and towers were wrapp’d in a blaze,
And the thunder it roar’d o’er the lands and the seas.
The widows they wail’d, and the red blood ran,
And she threatened an end to the race of man;
She never lened, nor stood in awe,
Till caught by the lion’s deadly paw.
O, then the eagle swink’d for life,
And brainyell’d up a mortal strife;
But flew she north, or flew she south,
She met wi’ the gowl o’ the lion’s mouth.
With a mooted wing and waefu’ maen,
The eagle sought her eiry again;
But lang may she cower in her bloody nest,
And lang, lang sleek her wounded breast,
gowl’d] howled. geck’d] mocked. arles] money paid on striking a bargain; fig. a beating. lened] crouched. swink’d] laboured. brainyell’d] stirred, beat. mooted] moulted.
BEFORE she sey another flight,
To play with 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.
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.