Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Illustrated book of Scottish songs from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century

110 SONGS OF THE AFFECTIONS.
There Simmer first unfald her robes,
And there the langest tarry ;
For there I took the last fareweel
0' my sweet Highland Mary.
How sweetly bloom'd the gay green birk,
How rich the hawthorn's blossom,
As underneath their fragrant shade
I clasp 'd her to my bosom !
The golden hours on angel wings
Flew o'er me and my dearie ;
For dear to me as light and life
Was my sweet Highland Mary.
Wi' mony a vow and lock'd embrace,
Our parting was fu' tender ;
And pledging aft to meet again,
We tore oursels asunder ;
But, oh, fell death's untimely frost.
That nipt my flower sae early ;
Now green's the sod and cauld's the clay
That wraps my Highland Mary !
Oh, pale, pale now those rosy lips
I aft hae kiss'd sae fondly ;
And closed for aye the sparkling glance
That dwelt on me sae kindly ;
And mould'ring now in silent dust
That heart that lo'ed me dearly ;
But still within my bosom's core
Shall live my Highland Mary.
" ' HigMand Mary,'" says tlie Hon. A. Erskine, in a letter to Mr. George Thomson,
" is most encliantingly pathetic." Burns says of it himself, in a letter to Mr. Thom-
son: " The foregoing song pleases myself; I think it is in my happiest manner; you
•will see at first glance that it suits the air. The subject of the song is one of the
most interesting passages of my youthful days [see note to " Maiy in Heaven,"
p. 91] ; and I own that I should be much flattered to see the verses set to an air
which would insure celebrity. Perhaps, after all, 'tis the still-glowing prejudice of
my heart that throws a borrowed lustre over the merits of the composition."