Nature

The Bush aboon Traquair

by John Campbell Shairp 1819–1885

From The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse (1912)

Nature

Will ye gang wi' me and fare
To the bush aboon Traquair?
Owre the high Minchmuir we'll up and awa',
This bonny simmer noon,
While the sun shines fair aboon,
And the licht sklents saftly doun on holm and ha'.

'And what wad ye do there,
At the bush aboon Traquair?
A lang dreich road, ye had better let it be;
Save some old scrunts o' birk
I' the hill-side that lirk
There's nocht i' the world for man to see.'

But the blythe lilt o' that air,
'The Bush aboon Traquair,'
I need nae mair, it's eneuch for me;
Owre my cradle its sweet chime
Cam sughin' frae auld time,
Sae, tide what may, I'll awa' and see.

'And what saw ye there,
At the bush aboon Traquair?
Or what did ye hear that was worth your heed?'
'I heard the cushies croon
Thro' the gowden afternoon,
And the Quair burn singing down to the Vale o' Tweed.

And birks saw I three or four
Wi' grey moss bearded owre,
The last that are left o' the birken shaw,
Whar mony a simmer e'en
Fond lovers did convene,
They bonny bonny gloamings that are lang awa'.

Fra mony a but and ben,
By muirland, holm and glen,
They came ane hour to spen' on the greenwood sward;
But lang ha'e lad an' lass
Been lying 'neath the grass,
The green green grass o' Traquair Kirkyard.

They were blest beyond compare
When they held their trysting there,
Amang thae greenest hills shone on by the sun;
And then they wan a rest,
The lonest and the best,
In Traquair Kirkyard when a' was done.

MLA

Shairp, John Campbell. “The Bush aboon Traquair.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/shairp/3/.

Chicago

Shairp, John Campbell. “The Bush aboon Traquair.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/shairp/3/.

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