English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Anonymous
302. Willy Drowned in Yarrow
D
Where bonnie grows the lily,
I heard a fair maid sighing say,
‘My wish be wi’ sweet Willie!
And Willie’s wondrous bonny;
And Willie hecht to marry me
Gin e’er he married ony.
From where my Love repaireth,
Convey a kiss frae his dear mouth
And tell me how he fareth!
And hear the mavis singing,
And see the birds on ilka bush
And leaves around them hinging.
And gentle throat sae narrow;
There’s sport eneuch for gentlemen
On Leader haughs and Yarrow.
And Yarrow haughs are bonny;
There Willie hecht to marry me
If e’er he married ony.
And does not hear me weeping;
Draws many a tear frae true love’s e’e
When other maids are sleeping.
The night I’ll mak’ it narrow,
For a’ the live-lang winter night
I lie twined o’ my marrow.
Pou’d you the rose or lily?
Or came you by yon meadow green,
Or saw you my sweet Willie?’
She sought him braid and narrow;
Syne, in the cleaving of a craig,
She found him drown’d in Yarrow!