The Complete Works of Robert Burns
Chapter 141 : Yestreen I had a pint o' wine, A place where body saw na'; Yestreen lay on t

Yestreen I had a pint o' wine, A place where body saw na'; Yestreen lay on this breast o' mine The gowden locks of Anna.

The hungry Jew in wilderness Rejoicing o'er his manna, Was naething to my hinny bliss Upon the lips of Anna.

II.

Ye monarchs tak the east and west, Frae Indus to Savannah!

Gie me within my straining grasp The melting form of Anna.

There I'll despise imperial charms, An empress or sultana, While dying raptures in her arms I give and take with Anna!

III.

Awa, thou flaunting G.o.d o' day!

Awa, thou pale Diana!

Ilk star gae hide thy twinkling ray, When I'm to meet my Anna.

Come, in thy raven plumage, night!

Sun, moon, and stars withdrawn a'; And bring an angel pen to write My transports wi' my Anna!

IV.

The kirk an' state may join and tell-- To do sic things I maunna: The kirk and state may gang to h.e.l.l, And I'll gae to my Anna.

She is the suns.h.i.+ne of my e'e, To live but her I canna: Had I on earth but wishes three, The first should be my Anna.

CLXXVIII.

MY AIN KIND DEARIE O.

[This is the first song composed by Burns for the national collection of Thomson: it was written in October, 1792. "On reading over the Lea-rig," he says, "I immediately set about trying my hand on it, and, after all, I could make nothing more of it than the following." The first and second verses were only sent: Burns added the third and last verse in December.]

I.

When o'er the hill the eastern star Tells bughtin-time is near, my jo; And owsen frae the furrow'd field Return sae dowf and weary, O!

Down by the burn, where scented birks[137]

Wi' dew are hanging clear, my jo; I'll meet thee on the lea-rig, My ain kind dearie O!

II.

In mirkest glen, at midnight hour, I'd rove, and ne'er be eerie, O; If thro' that glen I gaed to thee, My ain kind dearie O!

Altho' the night were ne'er sae wild, And I were ne'er sae wearie, O, I'd meet thee on the lea-rig, My ain kind dearie O!

III.

The hunter lo'es the morning sun, To rouse the mountain deer, my jo; At noon the fisher seeks the glen, Alang the burn to steer, my jo; Gie me the hour o' gloamin gray, It maks my heart sae cheery, O, To meet thee on the lea-ring, My ain kind dearie O!

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 137: For "scented birks," in some copies, "birken buds."]

CLXXIX.

TO MARY CAMPBELL.

["In my very early years," says Burns to Thomson "when I was thinking of going to the West Indies, I took the following farewell of a dear girl. You must know that all my earlier love-songs were the breathings of ardent pa.s.sion, and though it might have been easy in after times to have given them a polish, yet that polish, to me, would have defaced the legend of my heart, so faithfully inscribed on them.

Their uncouth simplicity was, as they say of wines, their race." The heroine of this early composition was Highland Mary.]

I.

Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary, And leave old Scotia's sh.o.r.e?

Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary, Across th' Atlantic's roar?

II.

O sweet grows the lime and the orange, And the apple on the pine; But a' the charms o' the Indies Can never equal thine.

III.

I hae sworn by the Heavens to my Mary, I hae sworn by the Heavens to be true; And sae may the Heavens forget me When I forget my vow!

IV.

O plight me your faith, my Mary, And plight me your lily white hand; O plight me your faith, my Mary, Before I leave Scotia's strand.

V.

We hae plighted our troth, my Mary, In mutual affection to join; And curst be the cause that shall part us!

The hour and the moment o' time!

CLx.x.x.

THE WINSOME WEE THING.

[These words were written for Thomson: or rather made extempore. "I might give you something more profound," says the poet, "yet it might not suit the light-horse gallop of the air, so well as this random clink."]