Text divider from 'Flowers of the Forest', an undated chapbook printed in Haddington
Flowers of the Forest.
I've seen the smiling of fortune beguiling: I've felt all its favours, and found its decay; Sweet was its blessing, kind its caressing, But now it is fled—fled far away.
I've seen the forest adorned the foremost, With flowers of the fairest, most pleasant and gay; Sae bonny was their blooming, their scent the air perfuming, But now they are withered, and weeded away.
I've seen the morning with gold the hills adorning, And loud tempest storming before the mid-day; I've seen Tweed's silver streams shining in the sunny beams, Grow drumly and dark as they roll'd on their way.
O fickle fortune! why this cruel sporting! O why still perplex us poor sons of a day? Nae mair your smiles can cheer me, nae mair your frowns can fear me, For the flowers of the forest are withered away.
