Page:The poetical works of Robert Burns.djvu/288

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THE SONGS OF BURNS.

BEHOLD THE HOUR.

TUNE—'ORAN GAOIL.'

Behold the hour, the boat arrive!Thou goest, thou darling of my heart:Sever'd from thee can I survive?But fate has will'd, and we must part!I'll often greet this surging swell;Yon distant isle will often hail:'E'en here I took the last farewell;There latest mark'd her vanish'd sail.'
Along the solitary shore,While flitting sea-fowls round me cry,Across the rolling, dashing roar,I'll westward turn my wistful eye;'Happy, thou Indian grove,' I'll say,'Where now my Nancy's path may be!While thro' thy sweets she loves to stray,O tell me, does she muse on me?'

WILLIE'S WIFE.

TUNE—'TIBBIE FOWLER IN THE GLEN.'

Willie Wastle dwalt on Tweed,The spot they ca'd it Linkumdoddie,Willie was a wabster guid,Cou'd stown a clue wi' onie bodie;He had a wife was dour and din,O Tinkler Madgie was her mither;Sic a wife as Willie had,I wad na gie a button for her.
She has an ee, she has but ane,The cat has twa the very colour:Five rusty teeth, forbye a stump,A clapper tongue wad deave a miller;A whiskin beard about her mou,Her nose and chin they threaten ither;Sic a wife, &c.
She's bow-hough'd, she's hein shinn'd,Ae limpin leg a hand-breed shorter;She's twisted right, she's twisted left,To balance fair in ilka quarter:She has a hump upon her breast,The twin o' that upon her shouther;Sic a wife, &c.
Auld baudrans by the ingle sits,An' wi' her loof her face a-washin;But Willie's wife is nae sae trig,She dights her grunzie wi' a hushion;Her walie nieves like midden-creels,Her face wad fyle the Logan-water;Sic a wife as Willie had,I wad na gie a button for her.

BONIE BELL.

The smiling spring comes in rejoicing,And surly winter grimly flies:Now crystal clear are the falling waters,And bonie blue are the sunny skies;Fresh o'er the mountains breaks forth the morning,The ev'ning gilds the ocean's swell;All creatures joy in the sun's returning,And I rejoice in my bonie Bell.
The flowery spring leads sunny summer,And yellow autumn presses near,Then in his turn comes gloomy winter,Till smiling spring again appear.Thus seasons dancing, life advancing,Old Time and Nature their changes tell,But never ranging, still unchangingI adore my bonie Bell.
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