Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79. | | | | Dundee | | The Birkie of Bonnie Dundee | | Clementina Stirling Graham (1782–1877) |
| | | YE fair lands of Angus and bonnie Dundee, | |
| How dear are your echoes, your memories to me! | |
| At gatherings and meetings in a’ the braw toons, | |
| I danced wi’ the lasses and distanced the loons; | |
| Syne bantered them gayly, and bade the young men | 5 |
| Be mair on their mettle when I cam’ again. | |
| They jeered me, they cheered me, and cried ane and a’, | |
| “He ’s no an ill fellow that, now he ’s awa.” | |
| |
| When puir beggar bodies cam’ making their mane, | |
| I spak’ them aye cheery, for siller I ’d nane; | 10 |
| They shook up their duddies, and muttered, “Wae ’s me | |
| Sae lightsome a laddie no worth a bawbee!” | |
| I played wi’ the bairnies at bowls and at ba’, | |
| And left them a’ greetin when I cam’ awa; | |
| Ay! mithers, and bairnies, and lasses and a’, | 15 |
| Were a’ sobbin loudly when I cam’ awa. | |
| |
| I feigned a gay laugh, just to keep in the greet, | |
| For ae bonnie lassie, sae douce and sae sweet, | |
| How matchless the blink of her deep loving ee, | |
| How soft fell its shade as it glanced upon me. | 20 |
| I flung her a wild rose sae fresh and sae fair, | |
| And bade it bloom on in the bright summer there; | |
| While breathing its fragrance, she aiblins may gi’e | |
| A thought to the Birkie of bonnie Dundee. | | | | |
|
|
