LXXXV

WHEN THE KYE COMES HAME

COME all ye jolly shepherds

That whistle through the glen,

I'll tell ye of a secret

That courtiers dinna ken:

What is the greatest bliss

That the tongue o' man can name?

'Tis to woo a bonny lassie

When the kye comes hame.

When the kye comes hame,
When the kye comes hame,
'Tween the gloaming and the mirk
When the kye comes hame.

'Tis not beneath the coronet,
Nor canopy of state,
'Tis not on couch of velvet,
Nor arbour of the great--
'Tis beneath the spreading birk,
In the glen without the name,
Wi' a bonny, bonny lassie

When the kye comes hame.

When the kye comes hame, etc.

There the blackbird bigs his nest
For the mate he loes to see,
And on the topmost bough,
O, a happy bird is he;

Where he pours his melting ditty

And love is a' the theme, And he'll woo his bonny lassie

When the kye comes hame.

When the kye comes hame, etc.

When the blewart bears a pearl,
And the daisy turns a pea,
And the bonny lucken gowan
Has fauldit up her ee,

Then the laverock frae the blue lift

Drops down, an' thinks nae shame To woo his bonny lassie

When the kye comes hame.

When the kye comes hame, etc.

See yonder pawkie shepherd,
That lingers on the hill,

His ewes are in the fauld,

An' his lambs are lying still;

Yet he downa gang to bed,
For his heart is in a flame,

To meet his bonny lassie

When the kye comes hame.

When the kye comes hame, etc.

When the little wee bit heart

Rises high in the breast,
An' the little wee bit starn
Rises red in the east,
O there's a joy sae dear,

That the heart can hardly frame,

Wi' a bonny, bonny lassie

When the kye comes hame.

When the kye comes hame, etc.

Then since all nature joins
In this love without alloy,
O, wha would prove a traitor
To Nature's dearest joy?
Or wha would choose a crown,
Wi' its perils and its fame,

And miss his bonny lassie
When the kye comes hame?
When the kye comes hame,
When the kye comes hame,
'Tween the gloaming and the mirk

When the kye comes home.

JAMES HOGG.

LXXXVI

DUET

(IN ROSAMUND'S BOWER)

1. Is it the wind of the dawn that I hear in the pine overhead?

2. No; but the voice of the deep as it hollows the cliffs

of the land.

I. Is there a voice coming up with the voice of the deep from the strand,

One coming up with a song in the flush of the glimmering red?

2. Love that is born of the deep coming up with the sun from the sea.

I. Love that can shape or can shatter a life till the life shall have fled?

2. Nay, let us welcome him, Love that can lift up a life

from the dead.

1. Keep him away from the lone little isle.

let us be.

Let us be,

2. Nay, let him make it his own, let him reign in it—he,

it is he,

Love that is born of the deep coming up with the sun

from the sea.

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON.

LXXXVII

ΤΟ

MUSIC, when soft voices die,
Vibrates in the memory;

Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken;

Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heaped for the beloved's bed;
And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.

LXXXVIII

THE POSIE

O LUVE will venture in, where it daur na weel be seen,
O luve will venture in, where wisdom ance has been ;
But I will down yon river rove, amang the wood sae
green,

And a' to pu' a Posie to my ain dear May.

The primrose I will pu', the firstling o' the year,

And I will pu' the pink, the emblem o' my dear,

For she's the pink o' womankind, and blooms without a

peer;

And a' to be a Posie to my ain dear May.

I'll pu' the budding rose, when Phoebus peeps in view,
For it's like a baumy kiss o' her sweet, bonny mou;
The hyacinth's for constancy, wi' its unchanging blue,
And a' to be a Posie to my ain dear May.

7

The lily it is pure, and the lily it is fair,

And in her lovely bosom I'll place the lily there;
The daisy's for simplicity and unaffected air,
And a' to be a Posie to my ain dear May.

The hawthorn I will pu', wi' its locks o' siller gray,
Where, like an aged man, it stands at break o' day,
But the songster's nest within the bush I winna tak'
away;

And a' to be a Posie to my ain dear May.

The woodbine I will pu' when the e'ening star is near, And the diamond drops o' dew shall be her een sae

clear;

The violet's for modesty which weel she fa's to wear,

And a' to be a Posie to my ain dear May.

I'll tie the Posie round wi' the silken band o' luve,
And I'll place it in her breast, and I'll swear, by a' above,
That to my latest draught o' life the band shall ne'er

remove,

And this will be a Posie to my ain dear May.

LXXXIX

ROBERT BURNS.

THE LOVER'S SONG

WHEN Winter hoar no longer holds
The young year in his gripe,
And bleating voices fill the folds,
And blackbirds pair and pipe;
Then coax the maiden where the sap
Awakes the woodlands drear,

And pour sweet wildflowers in her lap,
And sweet words in her ear.