Lewie Gordon (1821)/The Birks of Invermay
THE BIRKS OF INVERMAY.
The smiling morn, the breathing spring,
Invite the tuneful birds to sing,
And while they warble from each spray,
Love melts the universal lay.
Let us, Amanda, timely wise,
Like them improve the hour that flies,
And in soft raptures waste the day,
Amang the birks of Invernay.
The lav'rocks now, and lintwhites sing;
The rocks around with echoes ring,
The mavis, and the Blackbird's lay,
In tuneful strains do glad the day;
The woods now wear their summer suits;
To mirth all nature now invites:
Let us be blythesome then, and gay,
Amang the birks of Invermay.
Behold the hills and vales around,
With lowing herds and flocks abound,
The wanton kids, and frisking lambs,
Gambol and dance about their dams;
The busy bees, with humming noise,
And all the reptile kind rejoice:
Let us, like them, then sing and play
About the birks of Invermay.
Hark, how the waters, as they fall
Loudly my love to gladness call;
The wanton waves sport in the beams,
And fishes play throughout the streams;
The circling sun does now advance,
And all the planets round him dance:
Let us as jovial be as they,
Amang the birks of Invermay.
But soon the winter of the year,
And age, life's winter, will appear;
At this thy lovely bloom will fade,
As that will strip the verdant shade:
Our taste of pleasure then is o'er,
The feather'd songsters are no more;
And when they drop, and we decay,
Adieu the birks of Invermay.