Robert Burns (1759–1796). Poems and Songs.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

537 . Song—O bonie was yon rosy Brier

O BONIE was yon rosy brier,

That blooms sae far frae haunt o’ man;

And bonie she, and ah, how dear!

It shaded frae the e’enin sun.

Yon rosebuds in the morning dew,

How pure, amang the leaves sae green;

But purer was the lover’s vow

They witness’d in their shade yestreen.

All in its rude and prickly bower,

That crimson rose, how sweet and fair;

But love is far a sweeter flower,

Amid life’s thorny path o’ care.

The pathless, wild and wimpling burn,

Wi’ Chloris in my arms, be mine;

And I the warld nor wish nor scorn,

Its joys and griefs alike resign.