Nae mair in the gloamin' I'll gaylie be roamin',
To meet wi' my darling beneath the haw tree,
Where kindly he'd press me, and fondly caress me—
My heart's still wi' him, though he's cauld in the sea.
Vain are life's pleasures, its beauties and treasures—
Sweet spring the gowans adorning the lea:
Winter comes blasting, no longer they're lasting,
But nipt in the bloom like my Jamie frae me.
Waukin' or sleeping I'm mourning and weeping:
Thinking on Jamie tears gush frae my e'e;
Pleasure forsakes me, and sorrow o'ertakes me;
Death now alone my consoler must be.
Lovely Polly Stewart.
[Written by Burns for Johnson's Museum to the tune of "You're welcome, Charlie Stewart." This tune was originally called "Miss Stewart's Reel," but about the middle of the last century a Jacobite song was written to it, beginning as above, from which it received its new name. The Jacobite song is scarcely worth giving. Mr. Robert Chambers says, that he was informed that the heroine of this song was so far reduced in her circumstances, as to be obliged in her old age to support herself by washing clothes. In 1838, she resided in the borough of Maxwelton, Dumfries.]
O lovely Polly Stewart!
O charming Polly Stewart!
There's ne'er a flower that blooms in May,
That's half so fair as thou art.
The flower that blaws, it fades, it fa's,
And art can ne'er renew it;
But worth and truth eternal youth
Will gi'e to Polly Stewart."
May he, whase arms shall fauld thy charms,
Possess a leal and true heart;
To him be given to ken the heaven
He grasps in Polly Stewart!
O lovely Polly Stewart!
O charming Polly Stewart!
There's ne'er a flower that blooms in May,
That's half so fair as thou art.
Ane-and-twenty, Tam.
[It Is said that Burns wrote this charming little song on a real inoident. A young girl, pcssessed of some property which would be at her own disposal when she attained majority, was urged by her relations to accept an old and wealthy suitor. This she refused, as her affections were already placed on one whose youth, if not worldly circumstances, was more in accordance with her own—and the song is supposed to express her own feelings on the subject to her favoured lover, and particularly the ardent desire she entertained to reach that age when she would be mistress of herself, and able to prove the sincerity of her attachment. The song is sung to a lively old tune called "The Moudiewort."]
And oh, for ane-and-twenty, Tam!
And hey, for ane-and-twenty, Tam!
I'll learn my kin a rattlin' sang,
Gin I saw ane-and-twenty, Tam.
They snool me sair, and haud me down,
And gar me look like bluntie, Tam;
But three short years will soon wheel roun',
And then comes ane-and-twenty, Tam.
A gleib o' lan', a claut o' gear,
Were left me by my auntie, Tam;
At kith and kin I needna speir,
Gin I saw ane-and-twenty, Tam.
They'll ha'e me wed a wealthy coof,
Though I mysel' ha'e plenty, Tam;
But hear'st thou, laddie?—there's my lufe,—
I'm thine at ane-and-twenty, Tam!
When she cam’ ben.
[Improved by Burns for Johnson's Museum from an old but somewhat indelicate ditty. Tho tune is now more generally known by the name of "The Laird o' Cockpen."]
O when she cam' ben she bobbit fu' law,
O when she cam ben she bobbit fu' law,
And when she cam" ben, she kiss'd Cockpen,
And syne she denied that she did it at a'.
