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SWD LIORARY

SONGS.

THE BONIE LAD THAT'S FAR AWA.*

TUNE-OWRE THE HILLS AND FAR AWA.

HOW can I be blithe and glad,
Or how can I gang brisk and
braw,

When the bonie lad that I lo❜e best
Is o'er the hills and far awa?

Its no the frosty winter wind,
Its no the driving drift and snaw;
But ay the tear comes in my e'e,

To think on him that's far awa.

My father pat me frae his door,
My friends they hae disown'd me a':
But I hae ane will tak my part,

The bonie lad that's far awa.

* Allan Cunningham observes, "This Song, which ocurs in Thomson's Collection, was written, it is said, in alusion to the treatment of Jean Armour by her father, when he heard that she had not dismissed the Poet from her heart, but still kept up a correspondence." It has been collated with a copy in Burns' autograph.

VOL. III.

B

A pair o' gloves he gae to me,

And silken sroods* he gae me twa;
And I will wear them for his sake,
The borie lad that's far awa.

The weary winter soon will pass,
And spring will cleed the birken-shaw;
And my sweet babie will be born,

And he'll come hame that's far awa,

THE GOWDEN LOCKS OF ANNA.†

TUNE-BANKS OF BANNA.'

ESTREEN I had a pint o' wine,
A place where body saw na';
Yestreen lay on this breast o' mine
The gowden locks of Anna.

The hungry Jew in wilderness
Rejoicing o'er his manna,
Was naething to my hinny bliss
Upon the lips of Anna.

* Ribands for binding the hair.

In April, 1793, Burns wrote to Thomson: ""Shepherds, I have lost my love' is to me a heavenly air-what would you think of a set of Scottish verses to it? I have made one to it a good while ago, but in its original state it is not quite a lady's song. I enclose an altered, not amended copy for you, if you choose to set the tune to it, and let the Irish verses follow." "A Dumfries maiden, with a light foot and a merry eye, the handmaid at an inn, was," says Allan Cunningham," the heroine of this Song, which was considered by Burns to be the best love-song he ever composed."

Ye monarchs, tak the east and west,
Frae Indus to Savannah!

Gie me within my straining grasp
The melting form of Anna.
There I'll despise imperial charms,
An Empress or Sultana,

While dying raptures in her arms,
I give and take with Anna!

Awa, thou flaunting god o' day!
Awa, thou pale Diana!

Ilk star gae hide thy twinkling ray
When I'm to meet my Anna.
Come, in thy raven plumage, night,
Sun, moon, and stars withdrawn a';
And bring an angel pen to write
My transports wi' my Anna!

POSTSCRIPT.

The kirk and state may join, and tell
To do such things I mauna:
The kirk and state may gae to hell,
And I'll gae to my Anna.
She is the sunshine o' my ee,

To live but her I canna;

Had I on earth but wishes three,

The first should be my Anna.