Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.
Rothesay Bay
By Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (18261887)F
Far doun the braid hillside;
It is the brawest harst field
Alang the shores o’ Clyde:
And I ’m a puir harst-lassie
That stan’s the lee-lang day
Shearing the corn-rigs of Ardbeg
Aboon sweet Rothesay Bay.
Now, I hae nane ava;
And I had ance three brithers,
But I hae tint them a’;
My father and my mither
Sleep i’ the mools this day.
I sit my lane amang the rigs
Aboon sweet Rothesay Bay,
And bonnier at the noon,
But it ’s bonniest when the sun draps
And red comes up the moon:
When the mist creeps o’er the Cumbrays,
And Arran peaks are gray,
And the great black hills, like sleepin’ kings,
Sit grand roun’ Rothesay Bay,
And a wee tear blin’s my e’e,—
And I think o’ that far Countrie
What I wad like to be!
But I rise content i’ the morning
To wark while wark I may
I’ the yellow harst field of Ardbeg
Aboon sweet Rothesay Bay.