Hail, Poesie! thou Nymph reserv’d!In chase o’ thee, what crowds hae swerv’dFrae common sense, or sunk enerv’d‘Mang heaps o’ clavers:And och! o’er aft thy joes hae starv’d,‘Mid a’ thy favours! Say, Lassie, why, thy train amang,While loud the trump’s heroic clang,And sock or buskin skelp alangTo death or marriage;Scarce ane has tried the shepherd–sangBut wi’ […]

A Fragment, 1791. Thou, Liberty, thou art my theme;Not such as idle poets dream,Who trick thee up a heathen goddessThat a fantastic cap and rod has;Such stale conceits are poor and silly;I paint thee out, a Highland filly,A sturdy, stubborn, handsome dapple,As sleek’s a mouse, as round’s an apple,That when thou pleasest canst do wonders;But […]

At Brownhill we always get dainty good cheer,And plenty of bacon each day in the year;We’ve a’ thing that’s nice, and mostly in season,But why always Bacon–come, tell me a reason?

Where Cart rins rowin’ to the sea,By mony a flower and spreading tree,There lives a lad, the lad for me,He is a gallant Weaver.O, I had wooers aught or nine,They gied me rings and ribbons fine;And I was fear’d my heart wad tine,And I gied it to the Weaver. My daddie sign’d my tocher-band,To gie […]

As on the banks o’ wandering Nith,Ae smiling simmer morn I stray’d,And traced its bonie howes and haughs,Where linties sang and lammies play’d,I sat me down upon a craig,And drank my fill o’ fancy’s dream,When from the eddying deep below,Up rose the genius of the stream. Dark, like the frowning rock, his brow,And troubled, like […]

Tune–“The Tither Morn.” Yon wandering rill that marks the hill,And glances o’er the brae, Sir,Slides by a bower, where mony a flowerSheds fragrance on the day, Sir;There Damon lay, with Sylvia gay,To love they thought no crime, Sir,The wild birds sang, the echoes rang,While Damon’s heart beat time, Sir.

Chorus.–O lovely Polly Stewart,O charming Polly Stewart,There’s ne’er a flower that blooms in May,That’s half so fair as thou art! The flower it blaws, it fades, it fa’s,And art can ne’er renew it;But worth and truth, eternal youthWill gie to Polly Stewart,O lovely Polly Stewart, etc. May he whase arms shall fauld thy charmsPossess a […]

Chorus.–You’re welcome, Willie Stewart,You’re welcome, Willie Stewart,There’s ne’er a flower that blooms in May,That’s half sae welcome’s thou art! Come, bumpers high, express your joy,The bowl we maun renew it,The tappet hen, gae bring her ben,To welcome Willie Stewart,You’re welcome, Willie Stewart, etc. May foes be strang, and friends be slackIlk action, may he rue […]

When first my brave Johnie lad came to this town,He had a blue bonnet that wanted the crown;But now he has gotten a hat and a feather,Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver! Cock up your beaver, and cock it fu’ sprush,We’ll over the border, and gie them a brush;There’s somebody there we’ll teach […]

O Meikle thinks my luve o’ my beauty,And meikle thinks my luve o’ my kin;But little thinks my luve I ken brawlieMy tocher’s the jewel has charms for him.It’s a’ for the apple he’ll nourish the tree,It’s a’ for the hinny he’ll cherish the bee,My laddie’s sae meikle in luve wi’ the siller,He canna hae […]

Altho’ he has left me for greed o’ the siller,I dinna envy him the gains he can win;I rather wad bear a’ the lade o’ my sorrow,Than ever hae acted sae faithless to him.

O saw ye my dearie, my Eppie Macnab?O saw ye my dearie, my Eppie Macnab?She’s down in the yard, she’s kissin the laird,She winna come hame to her ain Jock Rab. O come thy ways to me, my Eppie Macnab;O come thy ways to me, my Eppie Macnab;Whate’er thou hast dune, be it late, be […]

Turn again, thou fair Eliza!Ae kind blink before we part;Rue on thy despairing lover,Can’st thou break his faithfu’ heart?Turn again, thou fair Eliza!If to love thy heart denies,Oh, in pity hide the sentenceUnder friendship’s kind disguise! Thee, sweet maid, hae I offended?My offence is loving thee;Can’st thou wreck his peace for ever,Wha for thine would […]

Chorus.–An’ O for ane an’ twenty, Tam!And hey, sweet ane an’ twenty, Tam!I’ll learn my kin a rattlin’ sang,An’ I saw ane an’ twenty, Tam. They snool me sair, and haud me down,An’ gar me look like bluntie, Tam;But three short years will soon wheel roun’,An’ then comes ane an’ twenty, Tam.An’ O for, etc. […]

The smiling Spring comes in rejoicing,And surly Winter grimly flies;Now crystal clear are the falling waters,And bonie blue are the sunny skies.Fresh o’er the mountains breaks forth the morning,The ev’ning gilds the ocean’s swell;All creatures joy in the sun’s returning,And I rejoice in my bonie Bell. The flowery Spring leads sunny Summer,The yellow Autumn presses […]

Flow gently, sweet Afton! amang thy green braes,Flow gently, I’ll sing thee a song in thy praise;My Mary’s asleep by thy murmuring stream,Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream. Thou stockdove whose echo resounds thro’ the glen,Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den,Thou green-crested lapwing thy screaming forbear,I charge you, disturb not my […]

The noble Maxwells and their powersAre coming o’er the border,And they’ll gae big Terreagles’ towersAnd set them a’ in order.And they declare Terreagles fair,For their abode they choose it;There’s no a heart in a’ the landBut’s lighter at the news o’t. Tho’ stars in skies may disappear,And angry tempests gather;The happy hour may soon be […]

[Address to the Shade of Thomson on Crowning His Bust at Ednam, Roxburghshire, with a Wreath of Bays.] While virgin Spring by Eden’s flood,Unfolds her tender mantle green,Or pranks the sod in frolic mood,Or tunes Eolian strains between. While Summer, with a matron grace,Retreats to Dryburgh’s cooling shade,Yet oft, delighted, stops to traceThe progress of […]

Fareweel to a’ our Scottish fame,Fareweel our ancient glory;Fareweel ev’n to the Scottish name,Sae fam’d in martial story.Now Sark rins over Solway sands,An’ Tweed rins to the ocean,To mark where England’s province stands–Such a parcel of rogues in a nation! What force or guile could not subdue,Thro’ many warlike ages,Is wrought now by a coward […]

Tune–“Carron Side.” Frae the friends and land I love,Driv’n by Fortune’s felly spite;Frae my best belov’d I rove,Never mair to taste delight:Never mair maun hope to findEase frae toil, relief frae care;When Remembrance wracks the mind,Pleasures but unveil despair. Brightest climes shall mirk appear,Desert ilka blooming shore,Till the Fates, nae mair severe,Friendship, love, and peace […]