Poem by Robert Burns

* * *

O, WERE I on Parnassus’ hill,
Or had of Helicon my fill!
That I might catch poetic skill,
  To sing how dear I love thee.
But Nith maun be my Muse’s well,
My Muse maun be thy bonnie sel;
On Corsincon I’ll glowr and spell,
  And write how dear I love thee.

Then come, sweet Muse, inspire my lay!
For a’ the lee-lang simmer’s day,
I could na sing, I could na say,
  How much, how dear, I love thee.
I see thee dancing o’er the green,
Thy waist sae jimp, thy limbs sae clean.
Thy tempting looks, thy roguish een-
  By Heaven and earth I love thee!

By night, by day, a-field, at hame,
The thoughts o’ thee my breast inflame
And aye I muse and sing thy name-
  I only live to love thee.
Tho’ I were doom’d to wander on,
Beyond the sea, beyond the sun,
Till my last weary sand was run;
  Till then-and then I’d love thee.

1. The Flowery Banks of Cree
2. Farewell, Thou Stream
3. The Day Returns
4. As Down the Burn They Took Their Way
5. Theniel Menzies’ Bonnie Mary

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