T h r e e   P o e m s

To his Auld Dog Hector
A Boy's Song
Kilmeny

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The Ettrick Shepherd
and his dog (1833)

The Author's Address to his Auld Dog Hector

COME, my auld, towzy trusty friend;
waur gaurs ye look sae douth an' wae?
D'ye think my favour's at an end,
Because thy head is turnin' grey?

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Although thy feet begin to fail,
Their best were spent in serving me;
An' can I grudge thy wee bit meal,
some comfort in thy age to gi'e?

For mony a day, frae sun to sun,

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We've toil'd an helpit ane anither;
An' mony a thousand mile thou'st run,
To keep my thraward flocks thegither.

To nae thrawn boy, nor scawghin' wife,
Shall thy auld banes become a drudge;

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At cats an' callans, a' thy life,
Thou ever bore a mortal grudge.

An' whiles thy surly looks declared,
Thou lo'ed the women warst of a';
"Cause aft they my affection shared,

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Which thou couldst never bruik ata."

When sitting with my bonny Meg,
Mair happy than a prince could be,
Thou plac'd thee by her other leg,
An' watched her wi' a jealous ee.

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An' then, at ony start or steer,
Thou wad ha'e worried furiouslye;
While I was forc'd to curse and swear,
Afore thou wad forbidden be,

Yet wad she clasp thy towzy paw;

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Thy greesome grips were never skaithly;
An' thou than her hast been mair true!
An' truer than the friend that ga'e thee!

Ah, me! of fashion, health, an' pride,
The world has read me sic a lecture!

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But yet it's a' in part repaid
By thee, my faithful, grateful Hector!

O'er past imprudence, oft alane
I've shed the saut an' silent tear;
Then, sharing ay my grief an' pain,

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My poor auld friend came snoovin' near

For a' the days we've sojourned here,
An' they've been neither fine nor few,
That thought possest thee year to year,
That a' my griefs arase frae you.

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Wi'waesome face, and hingin' head,
Thou wad ha'e press'd thee to my knee;
While I thy looks as weel could read,
As thou hadst said in words to me,—

"O my dear master, dinna greet;

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What ha'e I ever done to vex ye?
See here I'm cowrin' at your feet;
Just take my life if I perplex ye.

For a' my toil, my wee drap meat
Is a' the wage I ask of thee;

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For whilk I'm oft oblig'd to wait
Wi' hungry wame, an' patient ee.

Whatever wayward course ye steer;
Whatever sad mischance o'ertake ye;
Man, here is ane will hald ye dear!

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Man, here's a friend will ne'er forsake ye!"

Yes, my puir beast! though friends me scorn poor
Whom mair than life I valued dear;
An' throw me out to fight forlorn,
Wi' ills my heart dow hardly bear,

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While I have thee to bear a part—
My plaid, my health, an' heezle rung—
I'll scorn the silly haughty heart,
The saucy look, and slanderous tongue.

Sure friends by pop'lar envy sway'd,

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Are ten times waur than ony fae!
My heart was theirs, an' to them laid
As open as the light o' day.

I fear'd my ain; but never dredd
That I for loss o' theirs should mourn;

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Or that, when luck or favour fled,
Their friendship was injurious turn.

But He, who feeds the ravens young,
Let naething pass unheeded bye;
He'll sometimes judge of right an' wrong,

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An' ay provide for you and I.

And hear me, Hector: thee I'll trust,
As far as thou hast wit an' skill;
Sae will I ae sweet lovely breast,
To me a balm for every ill.

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To these my faith shall ever run,
While I have reason truth to scan;
But ne'er, beyond my mother's son,
To aught that bears the shape of man.—

I ne'er could thole thy cravin' face,

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Nor when ye pattit on my knee;
Though in a far an' unco place,
I've whiles been forc'd to beg for thee.

Even now I'm in my master's power,
Where my regard may scarce be shown;

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But ere I'm forced to gi'e thee o'er,
When thou art auld an' useless grown.

I'll get a cottage o' my ain,
Some wee bit cannie, lonely biel',
Where thy auld heart shall rest fu' fain,

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An' share with me my humble meal.

Thy post shall be to guard the door,
An' bark at pethers, boys, an' whips;
Of cats an' hens to clear the floor,
An' bite the flaes that vex thy hips.

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When my last bannock's on the hearth,
Of that thou sanna want thy share;
While I have house or hald on earth,
My Hector, shall ha'e shelter there.

An' should grim death thy noddle save,

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Till he has made an end of me;
Ye'll lye a wee while on the grave
Of ane wha ay was kind to thee.

There's nane alive will miss me mair;
An' though in words thou canst not wail,

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On a' the claes thy master ware,
Thou'lt smell, and fawn, an' wag thy tail.

An' if I'm forc'd with thee to part,
Which will be sair against my will,
I'll sometimes mind thy honest heart,

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As lang as I can climb a hill.

Come my auld, touzy trusty tike,
Let's speel to Queensb'ry's lofty brow;
There greedy midges never fike;
There care an' envy never grow.

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While gazing down the fertile dales,
Content an' peace shall ay be by;
An' muses leave their native vales.
To rove at large wi' you and I.

 

A Boy's Song

WHERE the pools are bright and deep,
Where the grey trout lies asleep,
Up the river and over the lea,
That's the way for Billy and me.

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Where the blackbird sings the latest,
Where the hawthorn blooms the sweetest,
Where the nestlings chirp and flee,
That's the way for Billy and me.

Where the mowers mow the cleanest,

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Where the hay lies thick and greenest,
There to track the homeward bee,
That's the way for Billy and me.

Where the hazel bank is steepest,
Where the shadow falls the deepest,

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Where the clustering nuts fall free,
That's the way for Billy and me.

Why the boys should drive away
Little sweet maidens from the play,
Or love to banter and fight so well,

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That's the thing I never could tell.

But this I know, I love to play
Through the meadow, among the hay;
Up the water and over the lea,
That's the way for Billy and me.

 

Kilmeny

BONNIE 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.

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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 hung frae the hazel tree;
For Kilmeny was pure as pure could be.

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But lang may her minny look o'er the wa',
And lang may she seek i' the green-wood shaw;
Lang the laird o' Duneira blame,
And lang, lang greet or Kilmeny come hame!

When many a day had come and fled,

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When grief grew calm, and hope was dead,
When mass for Kilmeny's soul had been sung,
When the bedesman had pray'd and the dead bell rung,
Late, late in gloamin' when all was still,
When the fringe was red on the westlin hill,

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The wood was sere, the moon i' the wane,
The reek o' the cot hung over the plain,
Like a little wee cloud in the world its lane;
When the ingle low'd wi' an eiry leme,
Late, late in the gloamin' Kilmeny came hame!

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"Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been?
Lang hae we sought baith holt and den;
By linn, by ford, and green-wood tree,
Yet you are halesome and fair to see.
Where gat you that joup o' the lily scheen?

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That bonnie snood of the birk sae green?
And these roses, the fairest that ever were seen?
Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been?"

Kilmeny look'd up with a lovely grace,
But nae smile was seen on Kilmeny's face;

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As still was her look, and as still was her e'e,
As the stillness that lay on the emerant lea,
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;

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Kilmeny had been where the cock never crew,
Where the rain never fell, and the wind never blew.
But it seem'd as the harp of the sky had rung,
And the airs of heaven play'd round her tongue,
When she spake of the lovely forms she had seen,

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And a lang 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;

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The land of vision, it would seem,
A still, an everlasting dream.

In you green-wood there is a waik,
And in that waik there is a wene,
And in that wene there is a maike,

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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,

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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;

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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,"

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

Yes, I have watch'd o'er ilk degree,
Wherever blooms femenitye;

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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 bonnie maiden I saw

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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 frae the snares of men,
That sin or death she never may ken."—

85

They clasp'd her waist and her hands sae fair,
They kiss'd her cheek and they kemed her hair,
And round came many a blooming fere,
Saying, "Bonnie Kilmeny, ye're welcome here!
Women are freed of the littand scorn:

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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 gane,

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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,

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The viewless tears have o'er them shed;
Have soothed their ardent minds to sleep,
Or left the couch of love to weep.

We have seen! we have seen! but the time must come,
And the angels will weep at the day of doom!

105

"O 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!

110

O, 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,

115

The minds that kyth as the body fair!

"O bonnie Kilmeny! free frae stain,
If ever you seek the world again,
That world of sin, of sorrow and fear,
O tell of the joys that are waiting here;

120

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,

125

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;

130

And they smiled on heaven, when they saw her lie
In the stream of life that wander'd bye.

And she heard a song, she heard it sung,
She kenn'd not where; but sae sweetly it rung,
It fell on the ear like a dream of the morn:

135

"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!
The sun that shines on the world sae bright,
A borrow'd gleid frae the fountain of light;

140

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,

145

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

They bore her away, she wist not how,
For she felt not arm nor rest below;

150

But so swift they wain'd her through the light,
'Twas like the motion of sound or sight;
They seem'd to split the gales of air,
And yet nor gale nor breeze was there.
Unnumber'd groves below them grew,

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They came, they pass'd, and backward flew,
Like floods of blossoms gliding on,
In moment seen, in moment gone.
O, never vales to mortal view
Appear'd like those o'er which they flew!

160

That land to human spirits given,
The lowermost vales of the storied heaven;
From thence they can view the world below,
And heaven's blue gates with sapphires glow,
More glory yet unmeet to know.

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They bore her far to a mountain green,
To see what mortal never had seen;
And they seated her high on a purple sward,
And bade her heed what she saw and heard,
And note the changes the spirits wrought,

170

For now she lived in the land of thought.
She look'd, and she saw nor sun nor skies,
But a crystal dome of a thousand dyes:
She look'd, and she saw nae land aright,
But an endless whirl of glory and light:

175

And radiant beings went and came,
Far swifter than wind, or the linkèd flame.
She hid her e'en frae the dazzling view;
She look'd again, and the scene was new.

She saw a sun on a summer sky,

180

And clouds of amber sailing bye;
A lovely land beneath her lay,
And that land had glens and mountains gray;
And that land had valleys and hoary piles,
And marlèd seas, and a thousand isles.

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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;
Which heaved and trembled, and gently swung,

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On every shore they seem'd to be hung;
For there they were seen on their downward plain
A thousand times and a thousand again;
In winding lake and placid firth,
Little peaceful heavens in the bosom of earth.

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Kilmeny sigh'd and seem'd to grieve,
For she found her heart to that land did cleave;
She saw the corn wave on the vale,
She saw the deer run down the dale;
She saw the plaid and the broad claymore,

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And the brows that the badge of freedom bore;
And she thought she had seen the land before.

She saw a lady sit on a throne,
The fairest that ever the sun shone on!
A lion lick'd her hand of milk,

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And she held him in a leish of silk;
And a leifu' maiden stood at her knee,
With a silver wand and melting e'e;
Her sovereign shield till love stole in
And poison'd all the fount within.

210

Then a gruff untoward bedesman came,
And hundit the lion on his dame;
And the guardian maid wi' the dauntless e'e,
She dropp'd a tear, and left her knee;
And she saw till the queen frae the lion fled,

215

Till the bonniest flower of the world lay dead;
A coffin was set on a distant plain,
And she saw the red blood fall like rain;
Then bonnie Kilmeny's heart grew sair,
And she turn'd away, and could look nae mair.

220

Then the gruff grim carle girn'd amain,
And they trampled him down, but he rose again;
And he baited the lion to deeds of weir,
Till he lapp'd the blood to the kingdom dear;
And weening his head was danger-preef,

225

When crown'd with the rose and clover leaf,
He gowl'd at the carle, and chased him away
To feed wi' the deer on the mountain gray.
He gowl'd at the carle, and geck'd at Heaven,
But his mark was set, and his arles given.

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Kilmeny a while her e'en withdrew;
She look'd again, and the scene was new.

She saw before her fair unfurl'd
One half of all the glowing world,
Where oceans roll'd, and rivers ran,

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To bound the aims of sinful man.
She saw a people, fierce and fell,
Burst frae their bounds like fiends of hell;
Their lilies grew, and the eagle flew;
And she herkèd on her ravening crew,

240

Till the cities and towers were wrapp'd in a blaze,
And the thunder it roar'd o'er the lands and the seas.
The widows they wail'd, and the red blood ran,
And she threaten'd an end to the race of man;
She never lened, nor stood in awe,

245

Till caught by the lion's deadly paw.
O, then the eagle swink'd for life,
And brainyell'd up a mortal strife;
But flew she north, or flew she south,
She met wi' the gowl o' the lion's mouth.

250

With a mooted wing and waefu' maen,
The eagle sought her eiry again;
But lang may she cower in her bloody nest,
And lang, lang sleek her wounded breast,
Before she sey another flight,

255

To play wi' the norland lion'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 play.

260

But she saw till the sorrows of man were bye,
And all was love and harmony;
Till the stars of heaven fell calmly away,
Like flakes of snaw on a winter day.

Then Kilmeny begg'd again to see

265

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,

270

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 awaken'd, she lay her lane,

275

All happ'd with flowers, in the green-wood wene.
When seven lang years had 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!

280

And O, 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 e'en

285

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.

290

But she loved to raike the lanely glen,
And keepèd 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,

295

The wild beasts of the hill were cheer'd;
The wolf play'd blythly round the field,
The lordly byson low'd and kneel'd;
The dun deer woo'd with manner bland,
And cower'd aneath her lily hand.

300

And when at even the woodlands rung,
When hymns of other worlds she sung
In ecstasy of sweet devotion,
O, then the glen was all in motion!
The wild beasts of the forest came,

305

Broke from their bughts and faulds the tame,

And goved around, charm'd and amazed;
Even the dull cattle croon'd and gazed,
And murmur'd and look'd with anxious pain
For something the mystery to explain.

310

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,

315

And the tod, and the lamb, and the leveret ran;
The hawk and the hern attour them hung,
And the merle and the mavis forhooy'd their young;
And all in a peaceful ring were hurl'd;
It was like an eve in a sinless world!

320

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

325

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,

330

And return'd to the land of thought again.