Burns' Popular Songs/Highland Mary
Highland Mary.
Ye banks, and braes, and streams aroundThe castle o' Montgomery,Green be your woods, and fair your flowers,Your waters never drumlie.There simmer first unfauld her robes,And there the langest tarry;For there I took the last fareweelO my sweet Highland Mary.
How sweetly bloomed the gay green birk,How rich the hawthorn's blossom,As underneath their fragrant shade,I clasped her to my bosom.The golden hours, on angel wings,Flew o'er me and my dearie;For dear to me as light and life,Was my sweet Highland Mary.
Wi' mony a vow, and lock'd embrace,Our parting was fu' tender;And, pledging aft to meet again,We tore oursels asunder;But oh! fell death's untimely frost,That nipt my flower sae early!Now green's the sod, and cauld's the clay,That wraps my Highland Mary!
Oh pale, pale now, those rosy lips,I aft hae kiss'd sae fondly!And clos'd for aye the sparkling glanceThat dwelt on me sae kindly;And mouldring now in silent dustThat heart that loe'd me dearly!But still within my bosom's coreShall live my Highland Mary.