C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Lady Grisel Baillie (1665–1746)

THERE was ance a may and she loved na men;

She biggit her bonnie bower down i’ yon glen:

But naw she cries Dool! and Well-a-day!

Come down the green gate, and come here away.

When bonnie young Johnnie cam’ ower the sea,

He said he saw naething sae lovely as me;

He hecht me baith rings and manie braw things,

And werena my heart licht I wad dee.

His wee wilfu’ tittie she loved na me;

(I was taller and twice as bonnie as she;)

She raised sic a pother ’twixt him and his mother,

That werena my heart licht I wad dee.

The day it was set for the bridal to be:

The wife took a dwam and lay down to dee;

She mained and she graned wi’ fause dolor and pain,

Till he vowed he never wad see me again.

His kindred socht ane o’ higher degree,

Said, Would he wed ane was landless like me?

Although I was bonnie, I wasna for Johnnie,

And werena my heart licht I wad dee.

They said I had neither coo nor cawf,

Nor dribbles o’ drink coming through the draff,

Nor pickles o’ meal runnin’ frae the mill-e’e,—

And werena my heart licht I wad dee.

His tittie she was baith wylie and slee:

She spied me as I came ower the lea;

And then she ran in, and made a loud din;—

Believe your ain een an ye trow na me.

His bonnet stood aye fu’ round on his brow;

His old ane looked better than many ane’s new:

But now he lets ’t wear any gait it will hing,

And casts himsel’ dowie upon the com-bing.

And now he gaes daundrin’ about the dykes,

And a’ he dow do is to hound the tykes:

The livelong nicht he ne’er steeks his e’e;

And werena my heart licht I wad dee.

Oh! were we young now as we ance hae been,

We should hae been gallopin’ down on yon green,

And linkin’ it ower the lily-white lea:

And werena my heart licht I wad dee.