Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/620

 ROBERT BURNS

5/5 Highland Mary

YE banks and braes and streams around The castle o' Montgomery, Green be your woods, and fair your flowers,

Your waters never drumlie' There simmer first unfauld her robes,

And there the langest tarry; For there I took the last farewecl O* my sweet Highland Mary.

How sweetly bloom 'd the gay green birk,

How rich the hawthorn's blossom, As underneath their fragrant shade

I clasp'd hei to my bosom' The golden hours on angel wings

Flew o'er me and my dearie, For dear to me as light and life

Was my sweet Highland Mary.

WV monie a vow and lock'd embrace

Our parting was fu' tender, And, pledging aft to meet again,

We tore oursels asunder, But oh' fell Death's untimely frost,

That nipt my flower sac early' Now green 's the sod, and cauld 's the clay,

That wraps my Highland Mary'

O pale, pale now, those rosy lips

I aft hac kist>'d sae fondly' And closed for aye the sparkling glance

That dwelt on me sac kindly'

diuinlie] miry.

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