The Book of Scottish Song/Iona

Iona.

[Written by James Hogo to an old air which said to have been sung by the monks of Iona.]

Where floated crane, and clam'rous gull,
Above the misty shores of Mull,
And evermore the billows rave
'Round many a saint and sov'reign's grave.

There round Columba's ruins grey,
The shades of monks are wont to stray,
And slender forms of nuns, that weep
In moonlight by the murmuring deep.

When fancy moulds upon the mind
Light visions on the passing wind,
And woos, with faltering tongue and sigh,
The shades o'er memory's wilds that fly.

That, in that still and solemn hour,
Might stretch imagination's power,
And restless fancy revel free
In painful, pleasing luxury.

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