Sailor's courtship/I'll soon ha'e a wife o' my ain

A WIFE O' MY AIN.

Frae Clyde to the banks o' sweet Earn,
I've travel'd fu' mony lang mile,
But thoughts o' my dearest lass Annie,
The wearisome hours did beguile:
The happy wae night that we parted,
She vow'd she would constant remain
My heart-strings a' dirl'd wi' fondness,
I kiss'd and kiss'd her again.

Tis no 'cause her cheeks are like roses,
Nor yet for her dark rollin' e'e;
'Tis no for her sweet comely features,
These charms are naething to me,
The storms o' life may soon blast them,
Or sickness make them fade away;
But virtue, when fix'd in the bosom,
Will flourish and never decay.

Nae langer I'll spend a' my siller,
Nae langer I'll now lie my lane;
Nae langer I'll hunt after hizzies,
I'll soon ha'e a wife o' my ain
For mony wild foot I ha'e wander'd,
And mony lang night spent in vain,
Wi' drinkin' an' dancin', and courtin',
But I'll soon ha'e a wife o' my ain.

———

Her mither's ay flytin' and roarin',
I rede you take tent o' that chiel;
He'll no be that canny to live wi',
He'll ne'er be like douse Geordy Steel
He's courted wi' o'er mony lasses,
To slight them he thinks it gude fun,
He'll mak' but a sober ha'f-marrow,
Ye'll best rue before ye be bosnd.

Tho' Geordy be laird o' a housie,
And brags o' his kye and his pelf,
Tho' warld's gear I be right scant o',
A fig for't, as lang's I've my heath:
If ance I were kippel'd wi' Annie,
She'll seldom ha'e cause to complain,
We'll jog on thro' life aye right canny,
When I a wife get o' my ain.

But if that my Annie prove faithless,
And marry before I return;
I'll no, like a cuiff, greet about her,
Nor yet for ae minute will mourn;
Awa straught to some ither beauty,
Without loss o' time I will hie,
And show to the lasses I'm careless,
Unless they're as willin' as I.