Oh Linn Of Lynn’s-Poem

Oh Linn of Lynn’s, thy fair cascade, heart of  th’enchanted  glen,refreshes all the land about, and birds and beasts and men.

The hazel and the rowan tree so lightly wear thy crown. The warbler and the grey wagtail sing sweetly all around.

Another voice, in harsher days, resounded through the trees as Peden stood upon the point that men might bend their knees.

To Christ the King instead of Charles, for Christ doth rule the Kirk. But  hushed is Peden’s great voice now, at rest from all his work.

And men may worship as they choose, not fearing monarch’s claw, and peace that fills the wooded glen may yet rule over all.

Oh Linn of Lynn’s, thy fair cascade, heart of th’enchanted glen, refreshes all the land about, and birds and beasts and men.

But something other-worldly once inhabited Lynn’s wood-the fairy?elf? or witch perhaps?-things little understood. Poor Bessie, wife of Andrew Jack, possessed a simple mind, but learned she did of natures ways the healing arts to find.

She wandered through th’enchanted glen and gathered herbs and flow’r  to treat her ailing kith and kin with nature’s healing pow’r.

But called to cruel trial she was, a low priest’s dupe, some say, and envy tied her to the stake, where burned her life away.

Oh, Linn of Lynn’s. they fair cascade heart of th’enchanted glen, refreshes all the land about, and birds and beasts and men.

The Lynn’s themselves were said to have the  gift of second sight. Oft’ to them, when some spirit moved, came visions in the night.

So came the strange and eerie hour to the mother of Lord Lynn, wand’ring through th’enchanted glen, some respite to win.

A shadowy thing, unseen but felt, was ever at her side, it conjured scenes of men and beasts upon a ghostly ride.

When evening passed and morning came, Lord Lynn was still awa’. A frantic search across  the land found him dead beneath the fall.

But Linn of Lynn’s, thy fair cascade, heart of th’enchanted glen, refreshes all the land about, and birds and beasts and men.

So grievous was the Lady’s loss, she could no longer  stay, and so the Lynn’s to Bourtreehill got up and moved away.

And some went even farther off, to Eire and O’er the sea, their land forsook, their line forgot left to obscurity.

Gone now the days of long ago-gone Peden, gone “witch,” gone  Laird. Yet still th’enchanted glen remains, the lovely Linn they shared.

While modern life surrounds its stream, its charm is sweeter still. So God, protect the Lin of Lynn’s  preserve its rock and rill.

For Linn of Lynn’s, the fair cascade, heart of th’enchanted glen, refreshes all the land about and birds and beasts and men.

Loretta Lynn Layman

While searching for ancestors of Arney’s, I found some truly wonderful information on his family. Arney is a direct line of the Lynn’s of Asyshire, Scotland. Lord of Dalry beginning in 1204.