The Book of Scottish Song/Bonnie Mary Halliday

Bonnie Mary Halliday.

[Allan Cunningham.—Tune, "Luch'd n'a breachin."]

Bonnie Mary Halliday,
Turn again, I call you;
If you go to the derry wood
Sorrow will befall you.

The ring-dove from the derry wood
Is wailing sore and calling;
And Annan water, 'tween its banks,
Is foaming far and falling.

Gentle Mary Halliday,
Come, my bonnie lady—
Upon the river's woody bank
My steed is saddled ready.

And for thy haughty kinsman's throats
My faith shall never falter—
The bridal banquet's ready made,
The priest is at the altar.

Gentle Mary Halliday,
The towers of merry Preston
Have bridal candles gleaming bright—
So busk thee, love, and hasten.

Come busk thee, love, and bowne thee
Through Tindal and green Mouswal;
I Come, be the grace and be the charm
To the proud towers of Mochusel.

Bonnie Mary Halliday,
Turn again, I tell you;
For wit, and grace, and loveliness,
What maidens may excel you?

Though Annan has its beauteous dames,
And Corrie many a fair one,
We canna want thee from our sight,
Thou lovely and thou rare one.

Bonnie Mary Halliday,
When the bittern’s sounding,
We'll miss thy lightsome lily foot
Amang the blythe lads bounding.

The summer sun shall freeze our veins,
The winter moon shall warm us,
Ere the like of thee shall come again
To cheer us and to charm us.

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