Pat's laying it on pretty thick here, since this is effectively "...cries a crying..." or "...wails a wailing..."
Me thinks he doth protest too much.
Petronski wrote: "...wails a keening..."
I wonder if Buchanan is making an obtuse reference to Ireland and Irish wake traditions.
The Banshee
John Todhunter (b. 1839)
"...Around her shuddering isle,
With gray hair streaming:
A meteor of evil omen,
The spectre of hope forlorn,
Keening, keening!..."
Keening of the Dead
Fear bruíne, bean chaointe ná garbhmhuilleoir, Ní bhf aighidh sna Flaithis aon leaba go deo.
Three persons who will get no bed in Heaven: A quarrelsome man, a keening woman and a crude miller.- O Súilleabháin, Irish Wake Amusements., p.142