The Poetical Works of Thomas Pringle :: :: University of Virginia Library

“And see not ye that bonny road
“That winds about the fernie brae?
“That is the road to fair Elfland,
“Where thou and I this night maun gae.”
Thomas the Rhymer.

Thro countreis seir, holtis and rockis hie,
Ouir vaillis, planis, woddis, wallie sey,
Ouir fluidis fair, and mony strait mountane,
We war caryit in twinkling of ane ee;
Our charett flew, and raid nocht, as thocht me.
Gawin Douglas.

'Twas in the leafy month of June,
Ere yet the lark hath hushed his tune;
When fair athwart the summer sky
Bright fleecy clouds sail softly by,
And sweeping shadows lightly pass,
Like spirits dancing o'er the grass;
And new-fledged birds are in the bowers,
And bees are humming round the flowers,
And through the meads is heard the stir
Of the blithe chirring grasshopper:

143

'Twas sweet Midsummer Eve: I lay
Alone by Eildon's haunted brae,
Soothed by the sound of woods and streams;
While, fitful as the shifting gleams,
Of sunshine o'er the forest glade,
Poetic fancies round me played;
And young love's tender reveries
Came fluttering, like the fragrant breeze,
Or wild-dove's wing among the trees.
Thus slumber found me: and I fell
Into a trance, as if some spell
Had rapt my willing soul away
From its cast slough of earthly clay:
Was waking mortal ne'er so blest—
Then, gentle Azla, ‘list, O list!’

Methought a Maid of heavenly mien,
Whose garb bespoke the Elfin Queen,
Appeared—and, with a winning smile
Might well the wariest heart beguile,
Waved o'er me thrice her magic wand,
And summoned me to Fairy-Land.
Who could resist the charming Elf?
She seemed the while my Azla's self!

Now, seated in her wingèd car,
We lightly speed o'er realms afar,
Where alpine ridges wildly rise,
With glaciers gleaming to the skies,
Or sandy deserts, scorched and dun,
Stretch boundless 'neath a fiery sun.
Her fair hand guides the magic rein,
While buoyantly o'er mount and plain,
And over ocean's trackless tides,
Our car like a swift comet glides:

144

Till far beyond the Western Deep
And fair Hesperides we sweep;
Then launch upon the Enchanted Sea,
Which laves the Land of Faërie.

At length, when daylight long has passed,
And the short night is waning fast,
We leap upon the star-lit strand
Of a remote and shadowy land;
Where mountains rear their summits bold
From dark umbrageous forests old;
And streamlets flow with lulling sound
Through verdant valleys opening round?
And breathing myrtles softly twine
Their branches with the clustering vine;
And zephyrs wave with fragrant wing
The tresses of immortal Spring.

Ah Lady! in that lovely Isle
How sweet, methought, to live with Thee!
Where summer skies for ever smile,
And sighing gales just stir the sea,
The silvery sea without a bound
That clasps th' Elysian Isle around! [OMITTED]