Page:The Book of Scottish Song.djvu/97

Rh It came when I was sick at heart,

And sleepless was mine e'e,

When luve was fause, an' wily tongues

Turn'd frien' to enemie.

I thocht a saft han' lay in mine,

A sma' waist in my arm,

A wee heart beatin'—throbbin' fast

Wi' love an' life-bluid warm.

In quiet streams I've seen fair flowers

Hid 'neath the bank they grew,

Sae in her deep blue een I read

Flower-thochts o' various hue.

O, dinua look sae kind, Willie,

Or else wi' joy I'll dee,

An' dinna read my heart, Willie,

Wi' thae lang lucks o' your e'e.

A maiden's heart should be, Willie,

A sacred thing to men,

Its workin's in an hour o' joy

Man-body ne'er can ken.

The flower that in the shade wad live

Will wither in the sun,—

An' joy may work on maiden-heart

What grief wad ne'er ha'e done.

The marrin' o' a melody—

The stoppin' o' a stream—

A sudden lapse in sunny licht—

The burstin' o' a dream.

I woke—and on my glassy een

The paley moonbeam shone:

Speak on, I cried,—speak on, but, lo!

The weel kent voice was gone!

[, formerly of Coldstream, now of Glasgow. Tune, "Ye mariners of England."—Here first printed.]

hame! I wadna lea' my hame,

Rough though the biggin be,

To live amid a blaze o' fame,

For what is fame to me!

In life's gay morn, wi' lightsome tread,

I roved the groves amang,

Where, still at e'en, I lay my head

To list ilk wee bird's sang.

And I have seen in lordly ha'

The fair and gay convene,

Where wreathed smiles chased care awa',

And love seem'd nature's queen;