Posthumous Poems/Lady Maisie's Bairn
LADY MAISIE'S BAIRN
"Gin ye winna cease for the pity of him, O cease for the pity of me;There was never bairn born of a woman Between the sea-wind and the sea,There was never bairn born of a woman That was born so bitterly."
The ship drove hard upon the wind, I wot it drove full mightily;But the fair gold sides upon the ship They were bursten with the sea.
"O I am sae fain for you, Lord John, Gin ye be no sae fain;How shall I bear wi' my body, It is sae full of pain?
"O I am sae fain of your body, Ye are no sae fain of me;"But the sails are riven wi' the wind And the sides are full of sea.
O when she saw the sails riven, The sair pain bowed her back;But when she saw the sides bursten, I wot her very heart brak.
The wind waxed in the sea between, The rain waxed in the land;Lord John was happéd wi' saut sea-faem, Lady Maisie wi' sea-sand;And the little bairn between them twa That was to her right hand.
The rain rains sair on Duriesdyke To the land side and the sea;There was never bairn born of a woman That was born mair bitterly.