Page:New poems and variant readings, Stevenson, 1918.djvu/58

38 And canty hearts are strangely steeled.

By some dikeside they'll find a bield,

Some couthy neuk by muir or field

They're sure to hit,

Where, frae the blatherin' wind concealed,

They'll rest a bit.

An' weel for them if kindly fate

Send ower the hills to them a mate;

They'll crack a while o' kirk an' State,

O' yowes an' rain:

An' when it's time to take the gate,

Tak' ilk his ain.

—Sic neuk beside the southern sea

I soucht—sic place o' quiet lee

Frae a' the winds o' hfe. To me,

Fate, rarely fair,

Had set a freendly company

To meet me there.

Kindly by them they gart me sit,

An' blythe was I to bide a bit.

Licht as o' some hame fireside lit

My life for me.

—Ower early maun I rise an' quit

This happy lee.