The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns/Blythe was She

by Robert Burns

For other versions of this poem, see Blythe Was She.

Blythe, blythe and merry was she,
Blythe was she but and ben;
Blythe by the banks of Ern,
And blythe in Glenturit glen.
  
By Ochtertyre grows the aik,
On Yarrow banks the birken shaw;
But Phemie was a bonnier lass
Than braes o’ Yarrow ever saw.
Blythe, &c.
  
Her looks were like a flow’r in May,
Her smile was like a simmer morn:
She tripped by the banks of Ern,
As light’s a bird upon a thorn.
Blythe, &c.
  
Her bonnie face it was as meek
As ony lamb upon a lee;
The evening sun was ne’er sae sweet,
As was the blink o’ Phemie’s e’e.
Blythe, &c.
  
The Highland hills I’ve wander’d wide,
And o’er the Lowlands I hae been;
But Phemie was the blythest lass
That ever trod the dewy green.
Blythe, &c.

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Source: Robert Burns, James Currie (Publ.): The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns; London, Milner and Sowerby, p. 160.