Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/611

 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; Where the river swa'd a living stream, And the light a pure celestial beam; The land of vision, it would seem, A still, an everlasting dream.

In yon green-wood there is a waik, And in that waik there is a wene, And in that wene there is a maike, That neither has flesh, blood, nor bane; And down in yon green-wood he walks his lane.

In that green wene Kilmeny lay, Her bosom happ'd wi' flowerets gay; But the air was soft and the silence deep, And bonnie Kilmeny fell sound asleep. She kenn'd nae mair, nor open'd her e'e, Till waked by the hymns of a far countrye.

She 'waken'd on a couch of the silk sae slim, All striped wi' the bars of the rainbow's rim; And lovely beings round were rife, Who erst had travell'd mortal life; And aye they smiled and 'gan to speer, 'What spirit has brought this mortal here?'—

'Lang have I journey'd, the world wide,' A meek and reverend fere replied; 'Baith night and day I have watch'd the fair, Eident a thousand years and mair.

swa'd] swelled. waik] a row of deep damp grass. wene] ? whin, a furze-bush. maike] a mate, match, equal. his lane] alone, by himself. happ'd] covered. speer] inquire fere] fellow. eident] unintermittently.