THE SMALL CELANDINE.

PANSIES, lilies, kingcups, daisies,
Let them live upon their praises;
Long as there are violets,

They will have a place in story;
There's a flower that shall be mine,
'Tis the little celandine.

William Wordsworth.

KILMENY'S ABSENCE.

BONNY Kilmeny gaed up the glen;
But it wasna to meet Duneira's men,
Nor the rosy monk of the isle to see,
For Kilmeny was pure as pure could be.
It was only to hear the Yorlin sing,
And pu' the cress-flower round the spring;
The scarlet hypp and the hindberrye,
And the nut that hangs frae the hazel-tree;
For Kilmeny was pure as pure could be.
But lang may her minny look o'er the wa',
And lang may she seek i' the green-wood shaw;
Lang the laird of Duneira blame,

And lang, lang greet, or Kilmeny come hame.

James Hogg, 1772-1835.

KILMENY'S RETURN.

WHEN many a day had come and fled,

When grief grew calm and hope was dead,

When mass for Kilmeny's soul had been sung,

When the bedesman had prayed, and the dead-bell rung,
Late, late in a gloomin' when all was still,
Where the fringe was red on the westlin' hill,
The wood was sere, the moon i' the wane,
The wreck o' the cot hung over the plain,
Like a little wee cloud in the world its lane;
When the ingle low'd with an airy leme,
Late, late in the gloomin' Kilmeny came hame !

James Hogg.

THE LAND OF SPIRITS.

KILMENY, Kilmeny, where have you been?
Lang hae we sought baith holt and den;
By linn, by ford, by greenwood tree,
Yet you are halesome and fair to see.
Where gat you that joup o' the lily scheen?
That bonny snood o' the birk sae green?
And these roses, the fairest that ever were seen?
Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been?"
Kilmeny looked up with a lovely grace,

But nae smile was seen on Kilmeny's face;
As still was her look, and as still was her e'e,
As the stillness that lay on the emerant lee,
Or the mist that sleeps on a waveless sea.
For Kilmeny had been she knew not where,
And Kilmeny had seen what she could not declare:
Kilmeny had been where the cock never crew,
Where the rain never fell, and the wind never blew;
But it seemed as the harp of the sky had rung,
And the airs of heaven played round her tongue,
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.

James Hogg.

THE FLIGHT.

O, never vales to mortal view

Appear'd like those o'er which they flew
That land to human spirits given,

The lowermost vales of the storied heaven;
From whence they can view the wold below,
And heaven's blue gates with sapphires glow-
More glory yet unmeet to know.

James Hogg.

KILMENY'S VISION.

SHE SAW a sun on a summer sky,
And clouds of amber sailing by,
A lovely land beneath her lay,

And that land had glens and mountains gray;
And that land had valleys and hoary piles,
And merléd seas, and a thousand isles;
Its fields were speckled, its forests green,
And its lakes were all of the dazzling sheen,
Like magic mirrors, where slumbering lay
The sun, and the sky, and the cloudlet gray.
James Hogg.

THE SKY-LARK.

BIRD of the wilderness,
Blythesome and cumberless,

Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and leal
Emblem of happiness,

Blest is thy dwelling-place

O to abide in the desert with thee !
Wild is thy lay and loud

Far in the downy cloud,

Love gives it energy, love gave it birth.
Where, on thy dewy wing,

Where art thou journeying?

Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth.

O'er fell and mountain sheen,

O'er moor and mountain green,

O'er the red streamer that heralds the day,
Over the cloudlet dim,

Over the rainbow's rim,
Musical cherub, soar, singing, away !

Then, when the gloaming comes,

Low in the heather blooms,

Sweet will thy welcome and bed of love be!
Emblem of happiness,

Blest is thy dwelling-place

O to abide in the desert with thee !

James Hogg.

THE MOON WAS A-WANING.

THE moon was a-waning,

The tempest was over;
Fair was the maiden,

And fond was the lover;
But the snow was so deep
That his heart it grew weary;
And he sunk down to sleep,
In the moorland so dreary.

Soft was the bed

She had made for her lover,
White were the sheets

And embroider'd the cover;
But his sheets are more white,
And his canopy grander ;
And sounder he sleeps

Where the hill foxes wander.

Alas, pretty maiden,

What sorrows attend you !

I see you sit shivering,

With lights at your window;

But long may you wait

Ere your arms shall enclose him;

For still, still he lies,

With a wreath on his bosom !

James Hogg.

WHEN THE KYE COME HAME.

Come all ye jolly shepherds

That whistle through the glen,

I'll tell ye of a secret

That courtiers dinna ken;

What is the greatest bliss

That the tongue o' man can name?

"Tis to woo a bonnie lassie

When the kye come hame.

When the kye come hame,

When the kye come hame,

"Tween the gloamin' and the mirk,

When the kye come hame.

James Hogg.

НАМЕ, НАМЕ, НАМЕ.

Hame, hame, hame, hame fain wad I be,

O hame, hame, hame, to my ain countrie!

When the flower is i' the bud, and the leaf is on the tree, The larks shall sing me hame in my ain countrie;

Hame, hame, hame, hame fain wad I be,

O hame, hame, hame, to my ain countrie!

James Hogg.

THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER.

It is an ancient mariner,

And he stoppeth one of three:

"By thy long gray beard and glittering eye,

Now wherefore stopp'st thou me ?

The bridegroom's doors are open'd wide,

And I am next of kin ;

The guests are met, the feast is set;
Mayst hear the merry din."

He holds him with his skinny hand

"There was a ship," quoth he.

"Hold off; unhand me, gray-beard loon;"

Eftsoons his hand dropt he.

He holds him with his glittering eye

The wedding-guest stood still,

And listens like a three-year's child;

The mariner hath his will.

Saml. Taylor Coleridge, 1772-1834.