Bonie Jean: A Ballad

5And aye she wrought her mammie’s wark,

6 And aye she sang sae merrilie;

7The blythest bird upon the bush

8 Had ne’er a lighter heart than she.

9But hawks will rob the tender joys

10 That bless the little lintwhite’s nest;

11And frost will blight the fairest flowers,

12 And love will break the soundest rest.

13Young Robie was the brawest lad,

14 The flower and pride of a’ the glen;

15And he had owsen, sheep, and kye,

16 And wanton naigies nine or ten.

17He gaed wi’ Jeanie to the tryste,

18 He danc’d wi’ Jeanie on the down;

19And, lang ere witless Jeanie wist,

20 Her heart was tint, her peace was stown!

21As in the bosom of the stream,

22 The moon-beam dwells at dewy e’en;

23So trembling, pure, was tender love

24 Within the breast of bonie Jean.

25And now she works her mammie’s wark,

26 And aye she sighs wi’ care and pain;

27Yet wist na what her ail might be,

28 Or what wad make her weel again.

29But did na Jeanie’s heart loup light,

30 And didna joy blink in her e’e,

31As Robie tauld a tale o’ love

32 Ae e’ening on the lily lea?

33The sun was sinking in the west,

34 The birds sang sweet in ilka grove;

35His cheek to hers he fondly laid,

36 And whisper’d thus his tale o’ love:

37“O Jeanie fair, I lo’e thee dear;

38 O canst thou think to fancy me,

39Or wilt thou leave thy mammie’s cot,

40 And learn to tent the farms wi’ me?

41“At barn or byre thou shalt na drudge,

42 Or naething else to trouble thee;

43But stray amang the heather-bells,

44 And tent the waving corn wi’ me.”

45Now what could artless Jeanie do?

46 She had nae will to say him na:

47At length she blush’d a sweet consent,

48 And love was aye between them twa.