Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/634

 JAMES HOGG

Yes, I have watch'd o'er ilk degree,

Wherever blooms femenitye;

But sinless virgin, free of stain

In mind and body, fand I nane.

Never, since the banquet of time,

Found I a virgin in her prime,

Till late this bonnic maiden I saw

As spotless as the morning snaw:

Full twenty years she has lived as free

As the spirits that sojourn in this countrye.

I have brought her away f rae the snares of men,

That sin or death she never may ken/

They clasp'd her waist and her hands sac fair,

They kiss'd her cheek and they kemcd her hair,

And round came many a blooming fere,

Saying, 'Bonnie Kilmeny, ye'ie welcome here'

Women are freed of the littand scorn:

O blest be the day Kilmeny was born'

Now shall the land of the spirits see,

Now shall it ken what a woman may be!

Many a lang year, in sorrow and pain,

Many a lang year through the world we've ganc,

Commission'd to watch fair womankind,

For it 's they who nurice the immortal mind.

We have watch'd their steps as the dawning shone,

And deep in the green-wood 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.

kerned] combed.

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