The Complete Works of Robert Burns Part 99

I.

Now simmer blinks on flowery braes, And o'er the crystal streamlet plays; Come let us spend the lightsome days In the birks of Aberfeldy.

II.

The little birdies blithely sing, While o'er their heads the hazels hing, Or lightly flit on wanton wing In the birks of Aberfeldy.

III.

The braes ascend, like lofty wa's, The foamy stream deep-roaring fa's, O'erhung wi' fragrant spreading shaws, The birks of Aberfeldy.

IV.

The h.o.a.ry cliffs are crown'd wi' flowers, White o'er the linns the burnie pours, And rising, weets wi' misty showers The birks of Aberfeldy.

V.

Let Fortune's gifts at random flee, They ne'er shall draw a wish frae me, Supremely blest wi' love and thee, In the birks of Aberfeldy.

Bonnie la.s.sie, will ye go, Will ye go, will ye go; Bonnie la.s.sie, will ye go To the birks of Aberfeldy?

x.x.xVII.

MACPHERSON'S FAREWELL.

Tune--"_M'Pherson's Rant._"

[This vehement and daring song had its origin in an older and inferior strain, recording the feelings of a noted freebooter when brought to "justify his deeds on the gallows-tree" at Inverness.]

I.

Farewell, ye dungeons dark and strong, The wretch's destinie!

Macpherson's time will not be long On yonder gallows-tree.

Sae rantingly, sae wantonly, Sae dauntingly gaed he; He play'd a spring, and danc'd it round, Below the gallows-tree.

II.

Oh, what is death but parting breath?

On many a b.l.o.o.d.y plain I've dar'd his face, and in this place I scorn him yet again!

III.

Untie these bands from off my hands, And bring to me my sword; And there's no a man in all Scotland, But I'll brave him at a word.

IV.

I've liv'd a life of sturt and strife; I die by treacherie: It burns my heart I must depart, And not avenged be.

V.

Now farewell light--thou suns.h.i.+ne bright, And all beneath the sky!

May coward shame distain his name, The wretch that dares not die!

Sae rantingly, sae wantonly, Sae dauntingly gaed he; He play'd a spring, and danc'd it round, Below the gallows-tree.

x.x.xVIII.

BRAW LADS OF GALLA WATER.

Tune--"_Galla Water._"

[Burns found this song in the collection of Herd; added the first verse, made other but not material emendations, and published it in Johnson: in 1793 he wrote another version for Thomson.]

CHORUS.

Braw, braw lads of Galla Water; O braw lads of Galla Water: I'll kilt my coats aboon my knee, And follow my love thro' the water.

I.

Sae fair her hair, sae brent her brow, Sae bonny blue her een, my dearie; Sae white her teeth, sae sweet her mou', The mair I kiss she's ay my dearie.

II.

O'er yon bank and o'er yon brae, O'er yon moss amang the heather; I'll kilt my coats aboon my knee, And follow my love thro' the water.

III.

Down amang the broom, the broom, Down amang the broom, my dearie, The la.s.sie lost a silken snood, That cost her mony a blirt and bleary.

Braw, braw lads of Galla Water; O braw lads of Galla-Water: I'll kilt my coats aboon my knee, And follow my love thro' the water.

x.x.xIX.

STAY, MY CHARMER.