TO MARY IN HEAVEN. THOU ling'ring star, with less'ning ray, My Mary from my soul was torn. 5 O Mary! dear departed shade! Where is thy place of blissful rest? Seest thou thy lover lowly laid? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast? That sacred hour can I forget, 10 Can I forget the hallowed grove, Those records dear of transports past, 15 Thy image at our last embrace,— 20 Ah! little thought we 't was our last! Ayr, gurgling, kissed his pebbled shore, O'erhung with wild woods, thick'ning green; The fragrant birch and hawthorn hoar Twined am'rous round the raptured scene; The flowers sprang wanton to be prest, The birds sang love on every spray – Till too, too soon, the glowing west Proclaimed the speed of winged day. 25 Still o'er these scenes my mem'ry wakes, 30 My Mary! dear departed shade! Where is thy place of blissful rest? Seest thou thy lover lowly laid? I Love My Jean bears witness to Burns's love for his wife, Jean Armour. "This song," he wrote, "I composed out of compliment to Mrs. Burns. N. B. It was in the honeymoon." OF a' the airts the wind can blaw I dearly like the west, For there the bonny lassie lives, The lassie I lo'e best: 5 There's wild woods grow, and rivers row, 10 But day and night my fancy's flight I see her in the dewy flowers, I hear her sweet and fair; I see her in the tunefu' birds, I hear her charm the air: There's not a bonny flower that springs 15 There's not a bonny bird that sings, But minds me o' my Jean. 1. airts the wind can blaw, quarters from which the wind can blow. 5. row, roll. 14. shaw, wooded dell. OH, WERT THOU IN THE CAULD BLAST. Miss Jessy Lewars was a young lady who helped Mrs. Burns to nurse the poet in his last illness. Of the origin of Oh, Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast, she has told that one morning Burns called upon her, and said if she would play him any tune of which she was fond, he would write words for her to sing to it. She played a melody, and as soon as Burns had it well in his mind, he sat down and wrote this song in a few minutes. OH, wert thou in the cauld blast On yonder lea, on yonder lea, My plaidie to the angry airt, I'd shelter thee, I'd shelter thee! Around thee blaw, around thee blaw, Or were I in the wildest waste, If thou wert there, if thou wert there! Wi' thee to reign, wi' thee to reign, 15 The only jewel in my crown Wad be my queen, wad be my queen! 10 Он, my luve 's like a red, red rose, 5 As fair art thou, my bonny lass, Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, While the sands o' life shall run. And fare thee weel, my only luve ! 15 And I will come again, my luve, MARY MORISON. OH, Mary, at thy window be, It is the wished, the trysted hour! Those smiles and glances let me see, That make the miser's treasure poor: 5 How blithely wad I bide the stoure, A weary slave frae sun to sun, Could I the rich reward secure, The lovely Mary Morison. 10 Yestreen, when to the trembling string I sat, but neither heard nor saw. 20 Oh, Mary, canst thou wreck his peace, The thought o' Mary Morison. 10 WANDERING WILLIE. HERE awa', there awa', wandering Willie, Tell me thou bring'st me my Willie the same. 5 Winter winds blew loud and cauld at our parting, Fears for my Willie brought tears in my ee; Welcome now simmer, and welcome my Willie The simmer to nature, my Willie to me. Rest, ye wild storms, in the cave of your slumbers; How your dread howling a lover alarms! 2. haud, hold. 3. ain, own. |