The Complete Scottish and American Poems of James Kennedy
Glass t Book Copyright H! CQEHUGHT DEPOSIT. JAMES KENNEDY. The Complete Scottish AND American Poems OF >--'• JAMES., KENNEDY New York : J. S. Ogilvie Publishing Company, 57 Rose Street. Copyright 1883, 1888, 1899, 1907 and 1920 By James Kennedy a K 27 ic:j ; ; i PROEM. OME, Muse of Scotland ! spread thy wing Like wild bird seaward journeying; Leave thy loved land, to which belongs The riches of thy matchless songs; Come in thy splendor, fair and free, Like morning o'er the shining sea! I long to see thy beauteous face, And mark thy wild and winsome grace And catch, perchance, some kindling thrill Of that divine, impassioned skill Which flamed into immortal fire, When Coila's minstrel tuned the lyre, And swept its thrilling chords along In bursts of sweet, ecstatic song. What though fair Scotland's hills and streams I see not but in airy dreams Thy glowing presence aye shall be A joyous all-in-all to me. By thee, as by the green-robed Spring, The wilds shall burst to blossoming, And silent solitudes shall be Awake with warbled melody. By thee, as by a vision bright, The vacant waste of viewless night Shall open to my wondering eyes The glowing earth, the azure skies, The purple mountains crowned with mist, Isles set in seas of amethyst. And all the artless words and ways That mark'd the course of earlier days, Shall come revived on Fancy's wing All bright in fond imagining. ! ! :;! —! IV PROEM. Nor shall we lack, as on we trip, For gay and glad companionship For rosy Mirth, with beaming eyes, Shall laugh at Folly's thin disguise; While Truth's light, quenchless as a star, Shines, beacon-like, where'er we are.
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