CXCV.
Reading edition
BLYTHE HAE I BEEN.
Tune—“Liggeram Cosh.”
[Burns, who seldom praised his own compositions, told Thomson, for whose work he wrote it, that “Blythe hae I been on yon hill,” was one of the finest songs he had ever made in his life, and composed on one of the most lovely women in the world. The heroine was Miss Lesley Baillie.]
I.
Blythe hae I been on yon hill As the lambs before me; Careless ilka thought and free As the breeze flew o’er me. Now nae langer sport and play, Mirth or sang can please me; Lesley is sae fair and coy, Care and anguish seize me.
II.
Heavy, heavy is the task, Hopeless love declaring: Trembling, I dow nocht but glow’r, Sighing, dumb, despairing! If she winna ease the thraws In my bosom swelling, Underneath the grass-green sod Soon maun be my dwelling.
“LOGAN BRAES.”
