Robert Burns (1759–1796). Poems and Songs.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 532. Song—Their groves o’ sweet myrtle |
| | | | | Tune—“Humours of Glen.” |
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| THEIR groves o’ sweet myrtle let Foreign Lands reckon, | |
| Where bright-beaming summers exalt the perfume; | |
| Far dearer to me yon lone glen o’ green breckan, | |
| Wi’ the burn stealing under the lang, yellow broom. | |
| Far dearer to me are yon humble broom bowèrs | 5 |
| Where the blue-bell and gowan lurk, lowly, unseen; | |
| For there, lightly tripping, among the wild flowèrs, | |
| A-list’ning the linnet, aft wanders my Jean. | |
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| Tho’ rich is the breeze in their gay, sunny valleys, | |
| And cauld Caledonia’s blast on the wave; | 10 |
| Their sweet-scented woodlands that skirt the proud palace, | |
| What are they?—the haunt of the Tyrant and Slave. | |
| The Slave’s spicy forests, and gold-bubbling fountains, | |
| The brave Caledonian views wi’ disdain; | |
| He wanders as free as the winds of his mountains, | 15 |
| Save Love’s willing fetters—the chains of his Jean. | |
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