Page:The poetical works of Robert Burns.djvu/330

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THE SONGS OF BURNS.

ON A BANK OF FLOWERS.

On a bank of flowers, in a summer day,For summer lightly drest,The youthful blooming Nelly lay,With love and sleep opprest;
When Willie, wand'ring thro' the wood,Who for her favour oft had sued;He gaz'd, he wish'd, he fear'd, he blush'd,And trembled where he stood.
Her closed eyes, like weapons sheath'd,Were seal'd in soft repose;Her lips, still as she fragrant breath'd,It richer dy'd the rose.
The springing lilies sweetly prest,Wild-wanton kiss'd her rival breast;He gaz'd, he wish'd, he fear'd, he blush'd,His bosom ill at rest.
Her robes, light waving in the breeze,Her tender limbs embrace!Her lovely form, her native ease,All harmony and grace!
Tumultuous tides his pulses roll,A faltering ardent kiss he stole;He gaz'd, he wish'd, he fear'd, he blush'd,And sigh'd his very soul.
As flies the partridge from the brakeOn fear-inspired wings;So Nelly, starting, half awake,Away affrighted springs:
But Willie follow'd—as he should,He overtook her in the wood:He vow'd, he pray'd, he found the maidForgiving all, and good.

EVAN BANKS.

TUNE—'SAVOURNA DELISH.'

Slow spreads the gloom my soul desires,The sun from India's shore retires:To Evan Banks with temp'rate ray,Home of my youth, he leads the day.
Oh Banks to me for ever dear!Oh stream, whose murmurs still I hear!All, all my hopes of bliss resideWhere Evan mingles with the Clyde.
And she, in simple beauty drest,Whose image lives within my breast;Who trembling heard my parting sigh,And long pursued me with her eye:
Does she, with heart unchang'd as mine,Oft in the vocal bowers recline?Or, where yon grot o'erhangs the tide,Muse while the Evan seeks the Clyde?
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