Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/640

 JAMES HOGG

But flew she north, or flew she south, She met wi j the gowl o' the lion's mouth.

With a mooted wing and waefu' macn,

The eagle sought her ciry again;

But lang may she cower in her bloody nest,

And lang, lang sleek her wounded breast,

Before she sey another flight,

To play wi' the norland hon'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 plaj.

But she saw till the sorrows of man were bye,

And all was love and harmony,

Till the stars of heaven fell calmly aw.u,

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 unmelcd remain Shall bloom in beauty when time is ganc.

With distant music, soft and deep,

They lulPd Kilmeny sound asleep;

And when she awakcn'd, she lay her lane,

All happ'd with flowers, in the green-wood wene.

mooted] moulted. sey] essay. unmeled] unblemished, her lane] alone, by herself.

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