Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.
The Birkie of Bonnie Dundee
By Clementina Stirling Graham (17821877)Y
How dear are your echoes, your memories to me!
At gatherings and meetings in a’ the braw toons,
I danced wi’ the lasses and distanced the loons;
Syne bantered them gayly, and bade the young men
Be mair on their mettle when I cam’ again.
They jeered me, they cheered me, and cried ane and a’,
“He ’s no an ill fellow that, now he ’s awa.”
I spak’ them aye cheery, for siller I ’d nane;
They shook up their duddies, and muttered, “Wae ’s me
Sae lightsome a laddie no worth a bawbee!”
I played wi’ the bairnies at bowls and at ba’,
And left them a’ greetin when I cam’ awa;
Ay! mithers, and bairnies, and lasses and a’,
Were a’ sobbin loudly when I cam’ awa.
For ae bonnie lassie, sae douce and sae sweet,
How matchless the blink of her deep loving ee,
How soft fell its shade as it glanced upon me.
I flung her a wild rose sae fresh and sae fair,
And bade it bloom on in the bright summer there;
While breathing its fragrance, she aiblins may gi’e
A thought to the Birkie of bonnie Dundee.