{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/celt/sce/sce01.htm","path":"neu/celt/sce/sce01.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/sce/sce01.htm","text":"O Louis! you that like them maist,\n Ye're far frae kelpie, wraith, and ghaist,\n And fairy dames, no unco chaste,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And haunted cell.\n Among a heathen clan ye're placed,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That kens na hell!\nYe hae nae heather, peat, nor birks,\n Nae troot in a' your burnies lurks,\n There are nae bonny U. P. kirks,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0An awfa' place!\n Nane kens the Covenant o' Works\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Frae that of Grace!\nBut whiles, maybe, to them ye'll read\n Blads o' the Covenanting creed,\n And whiles their pagan wames ye'll feed\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On halesome parritch;\n And sync ye'll gar them learn a screed\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0O' the Shorter Carritch.\nYet thae uncovenanted shavers\n Hae rowth, ye say, o' clash and clavers\n O' gods and etins--auld wives' havers,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But their delight ;\n The voice d him that tells them quavers\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Just wi' fair fright.\nAnd ye might tell, ayont the faem,\n Thae Hieland clashes o' oor hame.\n To speak the truth, I tak' na shame\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To half believe them;\n And, stamped wi' TUSITALA'S name,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They'll a' receive them.\nAnd folk to come, ayont the sea,\n May hear the yowl of the Banshie,\n And frae the water-kelpie flee,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ere a' things cease,\n And island bairns may stolen be\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0By the Folk o' Peace.\nFaith, they might steal me, wi' ma will,\n And, ken'd I ony Fairy hill,\n I'd lay me down there, snod and still,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Their land to win,\n For, man, I've maistly had my fill\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0O' this world's din.\nIN MEMORY OF\n THE: REV. ROBERT KIRK,\n WHO WENT TO HIS OWN HERD, AND ENTERED INTO\n THE LAND OF THE PEOPLE OF PEACE,\n IN THE YEAR OF GRACE SIXTEEN\n HUNDRED AND NINETY-TWO,\n AND OF HIS AGE\n FIFTY-TWO.\n ____________\nPeople of Peace! A peaceful man,\n \u00a0\u00a0Well worthy of your love was he,\n Who, while the roaring Garry ran\n \u00a0\u00a0Red with the life-blood of Dundee,\n While coats were turning, crowns were falling,\n \u00a0\u00a0Wandered along his valley still,\n And heard your mystic voices calling\n \u00a0\u00a0From fairy knowe and haunted hill.\n He heard, he saw, he knew too well\n \u00a0\u00a0The secrets of your fairy clan;\n You stole him from the haunted dell,\n \u00a0\u00a0Who never more was seen of man.\n Now far from heaven, and safe from hell,\n \u00a0\u00a0Unknown of earth, he wanders free.\n Would that he might return and tell\n \u00a0\u00a0Of his mysterious company!\n For we have tired the Folk of Peace\n \u00a0\u00a0No more they tax our corn and oil\n Their dances on the moorland cease,\n \u00a0\u00a0The Brownie stints his wonted tail.\n No more shall any shepherd meet\n \u00a0\u00a0The ladies of the fairy clan,\n Nor are their deathly kisses sweet\n \u00a0\u00a0On lips of any earthly man.\n And half I envy him who now,\n \u00a0\u00a0Clothed in her Court's enchanted green,\n By moonlit loch or mountain's brow\n \u00a0\u00a0Is Chaplain to the Fairy Queen.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A. L.","title":"The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns & Fairies: Dedication","type":"page"}