But the air was soft, and the silence deep,
And bonny Kilmeny fell sound asleep;

She kend 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 travelled mortal life;

And aye they smiled, and 'gan to speer,
"What spirit has brought this mortal here?"—
They clasped her waist and her hands sae fair,
They kissed her cheek, and they kemed her hair,
And round came many a blooming fere,
Saying, "Bonny Kilmeny, ye're welcome here!

"Oh, would the fairest of mortal kind
Aye keep the holy truths in mind.
That kindred spirits their motions see,
Who watch their ways with anxious e'e,
And grieve for the guilt of humanitye!
Oh, sweet to Heaven the maiden's prayer,
And the sigh that heaves a bosom sae fair!
And dear to Heaven the words of truth,
And the praise of virtue frae beauty's mouth!
And dear to the viewless forms of air,
The minds that kythe as the body fair!
O bonny Kilmeny! free frae stain,
If ever you seek the world again-

That world of sin, of sorrow, and fear-
Oh, tell of the joys that are waiting here;
And tell of the signs you shall shortly see;

Of the times that are now, and the times that shall be."

They lifted Kilmeny, they led her away,

And she walk'd in the light of a sunless day:

The sky was a dome of crystal bright,

The fountain of vision, and fountain of light;
The emerald fields were of dazzling glow,
And the flowers of everlasting blow.
Then deep in the stream her body they laid,

That her youth and beauty never might fade:

And they smiled on heaven, when they saw her lie

In the stream of life that wander'd by.

And she heard a song, she heard it sung,

She kend not where; but sae sweetly it rung,

It fell on her ear like a dream of the morn,

"Oh! blest be the day Kilmeny was born!
Now shall the land of the spirits see,

Now shall it ken what a woman may be!
The sun that shines on the world sae bright,
A borrow'd gleid of the fountain of light;
And the moon that sleeks the sky sae dun,
Like a gouden bow, or a beamless sun,
Shall wear away, and be seen nae mair,
And the angels shall miss them travelling the air.
But lang, lang after baith night and day,

When the sun and the world have elyed away;
When the sinner has gane to his waesome doom,
Kilmeny shall smile in eternal bloom!"

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 awakened, she lay her lane,
All happed with flowers in the green-wood wene.
When seven long years were 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 oh, 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;
And the soft desire of maiden's een

In that mild face could never be seen.

Her seymar was the lily flower,

And her cheek the moss-rose in the shower,
And her voice like the distant melodye,
That floats along the twilight sea.

But she loved to raike the lanely glen,

And keeped afar frae the haunts of men;
Her holy hymns unheard to sing,
To suck the flowers, and drink the spring.
But wherever her peaceful form appear'd,
The wild beasts of the hill were cheer'd;

The wolf play'd blithely round the field,
The lordly bison low'd and kneel'd;

The dun deer woo'd with manner bland,
And cower'd aneath her lily hand.
And when at even the woodlands rung,
When hymns of other worlds she sung
In ecstasy of sweet devotion,

Oh, then the glen was all in motion!
The wild beasts of the forest came,

Broke from their bughts and faulds the tame,
And goved around, charmed and amazed;

Even the dull cattle crooned and gazed,

And murmur'd, and look'd with anxious pain
For something the mystery to explain.
The buzzard came with the throstle-cock;
The corby left her houf in the rock;
The blackbird alang wi' the eagle flew;
The hind came tripping o'er the dew;
The wolf and the kid their raike began,

And the tod, and the lamb, and the leveret ran;

The hawk and the hern attour them hung,

And the merl and the mavis forhooyed their young;

And all in a peaceful ring were hurl'd;

It was like an eve in a sinless world!

When a month and a day had come and gane,
Kilmeny sought the green-wood wene;
There laid her down on the leaves sae green,
And Kilmeny on earth was never mair seen.
But O, the words that fell from her mouth,
Were words of wonder, and words of truth!
But all the land were in fear and dread,

For they kendna whether she was living or dead;
It wasna her hame, and she couldna remain ;

She left this world of sorrow and pain,

And return'd to the Land of Thought again.