Inscribed to R. Aiken, Esq.
“Let not ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys and destiny obscure;
Nor grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile,
The short but simple annals of the poor.”
—GRAY.
MY loved, my honored, much-respected friend,
No mercenary bard his homage pays:
With honest pride I scorn each...
HE ’s gane, he ’s gane! he ’s frae us torn,
The ae best fellow e’er was born!
Thee, Matthew, Nature’s sel’ shall mourn
By wood and wild,
Where, haply, pity strays forlorn,
Frae man exiled.
Ye hills, near neebors o’ the starns,
That proudly cock your cresting cairns!
Ye cliffs, the haunts of...
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min’?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o’ lang syne?
CHORUS
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We ’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pu’d the gowans fine;...
Green grow the rashes O,
Green grow the rashes O;
The sweetest hours that e’er I spend
Are spent amang the lasses O!
There ’s naught but care on ev’ry han’,
In every hour that passes O;
What signifies the life o’ man,
An ’t were na for the lasses O?
The warly race may riches chase,
An’ riches still may fly...
Adapted
GIN a body meet a body
Comin’ through the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need a body cry?
Every lassie has her laddie,—
Ne’er a ane hae I;
Yet a’ the lads they smile at me
When comin’ through the rye.
Amang the train there is a swain
I dearly lo’e mysel’;
But whaur his hame,...
O Whistle, and I ’ll come to you, my lad,
O whistle, and I ’ll come to you, my lad,
Tho’ father and mither and a’ should gae mad,
O whistle, and I ’ll come to you, my lad.
But warily tent, when ye come to court me,
And come na unless the back-yett be a-jee;
Syne up the back stile, and let naebody see,
And come as ye were na comin’ to me...
Duncan Gray cam’ here to woo—
Ha, ha! the wooing o’t!
On blythe Yule night when we were fou—
Ha, ha! the wooing o’t!
Maggie coose her head fu’ high,
Looke asklent and unco skeigh,
Gart poor Duncan stand abeigh—
Ha, ha! the wooing o’t!
Duncan fleeched and Duncan prayed—
Ha, ha! the...
Let not woman e’er complain
Of inconstancy in love;
Let not woman e’er complain
Fickle man is apt to rove;
Look abroad through Nature’s range,
Nature’s mighty law is change;
Ladies, would it not be strange
Man should then a monster prove?
Mark the winds, and mark the skies;
Ocean’s ebb and ocean’s flow;
...
She is a winsome wee thing,
She is a handsome wee thing,
She is a bonnie wee thing,
This sweet wee wife o’ mine.
I never saw a fairer,
I never lo’ed a dearer,
And neist my heart I ’ll wear her,
For fear my jewel tine.
She is a winsome wee thing,
She is a handsome wee thing,
She is a bonnie wee thing,
...
The Day returns, my bosom burns;
The blissful day we twa did meet;
Though winter wild in tempest toiled,
Ne’er summer sun was half sae sweet.
Than a’ the pride that loads the tide,
And crosses o’er the sultry line,—
Than kingly robes, and crowns and globes,
Heaven gave me more; it made thee mine.
While day and night can...
