Burns's Songs/Bonnie Banks of Ayr

BONNIE BANKS OF AYR.

Tune—Roslin Castle.

(illegible text)gloomy night is gath'ring fast,
(illegible text)roars the wild inconstant blast,
murky cloud is foul with rain,
(illegible text)it driving o’er the plain;
hunter now has left the moor,
scatter’d conveys meet secure,
(illegible text)here I wander, prest with care,
Along the lonely banks of Ayr.

(illegible text) autumn mourns her rip’ning corn
(illegible text)Winter’s ravage torn
(illegible text)her placid, azure sky,
sees the scowling tempests fly:
(illegible text)runs my blood to hear it rave,
(illegible text)upon the stormy wave,
(illegible text)many a danger I must dare,
(illegible text)from the bonnie banks of Ayr.

'Tis not the surging billow’s roar,
'Tis not that fatal deadly shore;
Tho’ death in every shape appear,
The wretched have no more to fear:
But round my heart the ties are bound,
That heart transpierc’d with many a wound
These bleed afresh, those ties I tear,
To leave the bonnie banks of Ayr.

Farewell, old Coila’s hills and dales,
Her heathy moors and winding vales;
The scenes where wretched fancy roves
Pursuing past, unhappy loves:
Farewell, my friends ! Farewell my foes
My peace with these, my love with those
The bursting tears my heart declare,
Farewell the bonnie banks of Ayr.

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