| |
| 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, | 5 |
| And the licht sklents saftly doun on holm 1 and ha’. | |
| |
| ‘And what wad ye do there, | |
| At the bush aboon Traquair? | |
| A lang dreich 2 road, ye had better let it be; | |
| Save some old scrunts o’ birk | 10 |
| 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; | 15 |
| 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? | 20 |
| 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 | 25 |
| 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’. | 30 |
| |
| Fra mony a but and ben, 3 | |
| 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, | 35 |
| 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, | 40 |
| The lonest and the best, | |
| I’ Traquair Kirkyard when a’ was done. | |
| |
| Now the birks to dust may rot, | |
| Name o’ luvers be forgot, | |
| Nae lads and lasses there ony mair convene; | 45 |
| But the blythe lilt o’ yon air | |
| Keps the bush aboon Traquair, | |
| And the luve that ance was there, aye fresh and green. | |
