Delphi Complete Works of Robert Burns (Illustrated) (Delphi Poets Series)
Page 47
I saw thine eyes, yet nothing fear’d,
Till fear no more had sav’d me: 20
The unwary sailor thus, aghast,
The wheeling torrent viewing,
‘Mid circling horrors yields at last
To overwhelming ruin.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
416.
Logan Braes (Song)
Tune— “Logan Water.”
O LOGAN, sweetly didst thou glide,
That day I was my Willie’s bride,
And years sin syne hae o’er us run,
Like Logan to the simmer sun:
But now thy flowery banks appear 5
Like drumlie Winter, dark and drear,
While my dear lad maun face his faes,
Far, far frae me and Logan braes.
Again the merry month of May
Has made our hills and valleys gay; 10
The birds rejoice in leafy bowers,
The bees hum round the breathing flowers;
Blythe Morning lifts his rosy eye,
And Evening’s tears are tears o’ joy:
My soul, delightless a’ surveys, 15
While Willie’s far frae Logan braes.
Within yon milk-white hawthorn bush,
Amang her nestlings sits the thrush:
Her faithfu’ mate will share her toil,
Or wi’ his song her cares beguile; 20
But I wi’ my sweet nurslings here,
Nae mate to help, nae mate to cheer,
Pass widow’d nights and joyless days,
While Willie’s far frae Logan braes.
O wae be to you, Men o’ State, 25
That brethren rouse to deadly hate!
As ye make mony a fond heart mourn,
Sae may it on your heads return!
How can your flinty hearts enjoy
The widow’s tear, the orphan’s cry? 30
But soon may peace bring happy days,
And Willie hame to Logan braes!
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
417.
Blythe hae I been on yon hill (Song)
Tune— “The Quaker’s Wife.”
BLYTHE hae I been on yon hill,
As the lambs before me;
Careless ilka thought and free,
As the breeze flew o’er me;
Now nae langer sport and play, 5
Mirth or sang can please me;
LESLEY is sae fair and coy,
Care and anguish seize me.
Heavy, heavy is the task,
Hopeless love declaring; 10
Trembling, I dow nocht but glow’r,
Sighing, dumb despairing!
If she winna ease the thraws
In my bosom swelling,
Underneath the grass-green sod, 15
Soon maun be my dwelling.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
418.
O were my love you lilac fair (Song)
Air— “Hughie Graham.”
O WERE my love yon Lilac fair,
Wi’ purple blossoms to the Spring,
And I, a bird to shelter there,
When wearied on my little wing!
How I wad mourn when it was torn 5
By Autumn wild, and Winter rude!
But I wad sing on wanton wing,
When youthfu’ May its bloom renew’d.
O gin my love were yon red rose,
That grows upon the castle wa’; 10
And I myself a drap o’ dew,
Into her bonie breast to fa’!
O there, beyond expression blest,
I’d feast on beauty a’ the night;
Seal’d on her silk-saft faulds to rest, 15
Till fley’d awa by Phoebus’ light!
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
419.
Bonie Jean: A Ballad
To its ain tune.
THERE was a lass, and she was fair,
At kirk or market to be seen;
When a’ our fairest maids were met,
The fairest maid was bonie Jean.
And aye she wrought her mammie’s wark, 5
And aye she sang sae merrilie;
The blythest bird upon the bush
Had ne’er a lighter heart than she.
But hawks will rob the tender joys
That bless the little lintwhite’s nest; 10
And frost will blight the fairest flowers,
And love will break the soundest rest.
Young Robie was the brawest lad,
The flower and pride of a’ the glen;
And he had owsen, sheep, and kye, 15
And wanton naigies nine or ten.
He gaed wi’ Jeanie to the tryste,
He danc’d wi’ Jeanie on the down;
And, lang ere witless Jeanie wist,
Her heart was tint, her peace was stown! 20
As in the bosom of the stream,
The moon-beam dwells at dewy e’en;
So trembling, pure, was tender love
Within the breast of bonie Jean.
And now she works her mammie’s wark, 25
And aye she sighs wi’ care and pain;
Yet wist na what her ail might be,
Or what wad make her weel again.
But did na Jeanie’s heart loup light,
And didna joy blink in her e’e, 30
As Robie tauld a tale o’ love
Ae e’ening on the lily lea?
The sun was sinking in the west,
The birds sang sweet in ilka grove;
His cheek to hers he fondly laid, 35
And whisper’d thus his tale o’ love:
“O Jeanie fair, I lo’e thee dear;
O canst thou think to fancy me,
Or wilt thou leave thy mammie’s cot,
And learn to tent the farms wi’ me? 40
“At barn or byre thou shalt na drudge,
Or naething else to trouble thee;
But stray amang the heather-bells,
And tent the waving corn wi’ me.”
Now what could artless Jeanie do? 45
She had nae will to say him na:
At length she blush’d a sweet consent,
And love was aye between them twa.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
420.
Lines of John M’Murdo, Esq.
BLEST be M’Murdo to his latest day!
No envious cloud o’ercast his evening ray;
No wrinkle, furrow’d by the hand of care,
Nor ever sorrow add one silver hair!
O may no son the father’s honour stain, 5
Nor ever daughter give the mother pain!
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
421.
Epitaph on a Lap-dog
Named Echo
IN wood and wild, ye warbling throng,
Your heavy loss deplore;
Now, half extinct your powers of song,
Sweet Echo is no more.
Ye jarring, screeching things around, 5
Scream your discordant joys;
Now, half your din of tuneless sound
With Echo silent lies.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
422.
Epigrams against the Earl of Galloway
WHAT dost thou in that mansion fair?
Flit, Galloway, and find
Some narrow, dirty, dungeon cave,
The picture of thy mind.
—— —
No Stewart art thou, Galloway, 5
The Stewarts ‘ll were brave;
Besides, the Stewarts were but fools,
Not one of them a knave.
Bright ran thy line,
O Galloway,
Thro’ many a far-fam’d sire! 10
So ran the far-famed Roman way,
And ended in a mire.
—— —
Spare me thy vengeance, Galloway!
In quiet let me live:
I ask no kindness at thy hand, 15
For thou hast none to give.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
423.
Epigram on the Laird of Laggan
WHEN Morine, deceas’d, to the Devil went down,
‘Twas nothing would serve him but Satan’s own crown;
“Thy fool’s head,” quoth Satan, “that crown shall wear never,
I grant thou’rt as wicked, but not quite so clever.”
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
424.
Phillis the Fair (Song)
Tune— “Robin Adair.”
WHILE larks, with little wing,
Fann’d the pure air,
Tasting the breathing Spring,
Forth I did fare:
Gay the sun’s golden eye 5
Peep’d o’er the mountains high;
Such thy morn! did I cry,
Phillis the fair.
In each bird’s careless song,
Glad I did share; 10
While yon wild-flowers among,
Chance led me there!
Sweet to the op’ning day,
Rosebuds bent the dewy spray;
Such thy bloom! did I say, 15
Phillis the fair.
Down in a shady walk,
Doves cooing were;
I mark’d the cruel hawk
Caught in a snare: 20
So kind may fortune be,
Such make his destiny,
He who would injure thee,
Phillis the fair.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
425.
Had I a cave (Song)
Tune— “Robin Adair.”
HAD I a cave on some wild distant shore,
Where the winds howl to the wave’s dashing roar:
There would I weep my woes,
There seek my lost repose,
Till grief my eyes should close, 5
Ne’er to wake more!
Falsest of womankind, can’st thou declare
All thy fond, plighted vows fleeting as air!
To thy new lover hie,
Laugh o’er thy perjury; 10
Then in thy bosom try
What peace is there!
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
426.
By Allan Stream (Song)
BY Allan stream I chanc’d to rove,
While Phoebus sank beyond Benledi;
The winds are whispering thro’ the grove,
The yellow corn was waving ready:
I listen’d to a lover’s sang, 5
An’ thought on youthfu’ pleasures mony;
And aye the wild-wood echoes rang —
“O, dearly do I love thee, Annie!
“O, happy be the woodbine bower,
Nae nightly bogle make it eerie; 10
Nor ever sorrow stain the hour,
The place and time I met my Dearie!
Her head upon my throbbing breast,
She, sinking, said, ‘I’m thine for ever!’
While mony a kiss the seal imprest — 15
The sacred vow we ne’er should sever.”
The haunt o’ Spring’s the primrose-brae,
The Summer joys the flocks to follow;
How cheery thro’ her short’ning day,
Is Autumn in her weeds o’ yellow; 20
But can they melt the glowing heart,
Or chain the soul in speechless pleasure?
Or thro’ each nerve the rapture dart,
Like meeting her, our bosom’s treasure?
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
427.
Whistle and I’ll come to you (Song)
Chorus. — O WHISTLE, an’ I’ll come to ye, my lad,
O whistle, an’ I’ll come to ye, my lad,
Tho’ father an’ mother an’ a’ should gae mad,
O whistle, an’ I’ll come to ye, my lad.
But warily tent when ye come to court me, 5
And come nae unless the back-yett be a-jee;
Syne up the back-stile, and let naebody see,
And come as ye were na comin’ to me,
And come as ye were na comin’ to me.
O whistle an’ I’ll come, &c. 10
At kirk, or at market, whene’er ye meet me,
Gang by me as tho’ that ye car’d na a flie;
But steal me a blink o’ your bonie black e’e,
Yet look as ye were na lookin’ to me,
Yet look as ye were na lookin’ to me. 15
O whistle an’ I’ll come, &c.
Aye vow and protest that ye care na for me,
And whiles ye may lightly my beauty a-wee;
But court na anither, tho’ jokin’ ye be,
For fear that she wile your fancy frae me, 20
For fear that she wile your fancy frae me.
O whistle an’ I’ll come, &c.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
428.
Phillis the Queen o’ the fair (Song)
Tune— “The Muckin o’ Geordie’s Byre.”
ADOWN winding Nith I did wander,
To mark the sweet flowers as they spring;
Adown winding Nith I did wander,
Of Phillis to muse and to sing.
Chorus. — Awa’ wi’ your belles and your beauties, 5
They never wi’ her can compare,
Whaever has met wi’ my Phillis,
Has met wi’ the queen o’ the fair.
The daisy amus’d my fond fancy,
So artless, so simple, so wild; 10
Thou emblem, said I, o’ my Phillis —
For she is Simplicity’s child.
Awa’ wi’ your belles, &c.
The rose-bud’s the blush o’ my charmer,
Her sweet balmy lip when ‘tis prest: 15
How fair and how pure is the lily!
But fairer and purer her breast.
Awa’ wi’ your belles, &c.
Yon knot of gay flowers in the arbour,
They ne’er wi’ my Phillis can vie: 20
Her breath is the breath of the woodbine,
Its dew-drop o’ diamond her eye.
Awa’ wi’ your belles, &c.
Her voice is the song o’ the morning,
That wakes thro’ the green-spreading grove 25
When Phoebus peeps over the mountains,
On music, and pleasure, and love.
Awa’ wi’ your belles, &c.
But beauty, how frail and how fleeting!
The bloom of a fine summer’s day; 30
While worth in the mind o’ my Phillis,
Will flourish without a decay.
Awa’ wi’ your belles, &c.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
429.
Come let me take thee to my breast (Song)
COME, let me take thee to my breast,
And pledge we ne’er shall sunder;
And I shall spurn as vilest dust
The world’s wealth and grandeur:
And do I hear my Jeanie own 5
That equal transports move her?
I ask for dearest life alone,
That I may live to love her.
Thus, in my arms, wi’ a’ her charms,
I clasp my countless treasure; 10
I’ll seek nae main o’ Heav’n to share,
Tha sic a moment’s pleasure:
And by thy e’en sae bonie blue
,
I swear I’m thine for ever!
And on thy lips I seal my vow, 15
And break it shall I never.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
430.
Dainty Davie (Song)
NOW rosy May comes in wi’ flowers,
To deck her gay, green-spreading bowers;
And now comes in the happy hours,
To wander wi’ my Davie.
Chorus. — Meet me on the warlock knowe, 5
Dainty Davie, Dainty Davie;
There I’ll spend the day wi’ you,
My ain dear Dainty Davie.
The crystal waters round us fa’,
The merry birds are lovers a’, 10
The scented breezes round us blaw,
A wandering wi’ my Davie.
Meet me on, &c.
As purple morning starts the hare,
To steal upon her early fare, 15