CLXIV.
Reading edition
LOVELY POLLY STEWART.
Tune—“Ye’re welcome, Charlie Stewart.”
[The poet’s eye was on Polly Stewart, but his mind seems to have been with Charlie Stewart, and the Jacobite ballads, when he penned these words;—they are in the Museum.]
I.
O lovely Polly Stewart! O charming Polly Stewart! There’s not a flower that blooms in May That’s half so fair as thou art. The flower it blaws, it fades and fa’s, And art can ne’er renew it; But worth and truth eternal youth Will give to Polly Stewart.
II.
May he whose arms shall fauld thy charms Possess a leal and true heart; To him be given to ken the heaven He grasps in Polly Stewart. O lovely Polly Stewart! O charming Polly Stewart! There’s ne’er a flower that blooms in May That’s half so sweet as thou art.