Courting Song

The day-beam's unco laith to part,
It lingers o'er yon summit low'ring,
While I stand here with beating heart,
Behind the brier and willow cow'ring.

The gloamin' stern keeks o'er the yoke,
An' strews wi' goud the stream sae glassy ;
The raven sleeps aboon the roc/k,
An' I wait for my bonny lassie.

Weel may I tent tbe siller dew,
That comes at eve sae saftly stealing;
The silken hue, the bonny blue,
O' nature's rich an' radiant ceiling.
The lily lea, the vernal tree,
The night-breeze o'er the broomwood creeping ;
The fading day, the milky way,
The star.beam on the water sleeping.

For gin my lassie were but here,
The jewel of my earthly treasure,
I'll hear nought but her accents dear,
Whisper'd in love's delicious measure.
Although the bat, wi' velvet wing,
Wheels round our bower so dark an' grassy,
O I'll be happier than a king,
Placed by thy side, my bonny lassie !

Nae art hast thou, nae pawky wile,
The rapid flow of love impelling ;
But O the love that lights thy smile,
Wad lure an angel frae his dwelling !
There is a language in thy ee,
A music in thy voice of feeling,
The mildest virgin modestye,
An' soul that dwells within revealing.

She conies with maiden's cautious art,
Her stealing steps to tears impel me,
For, ah ! the beatings of her heart
Come flichterin' on the breeze to tell me.
Flee, a' ye sorrows, on the wind,
Ye warldly cares, I'll lightly pass ye ;
Nae thought shall waver through my mind,
But raptures wi' my bonny lassie.