Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.
The Flowers of the Forest
By Jane Elliot (17271805)
I
Lasses a-lilting before the dawn of day;
But now they are moaning on ilka green loaning,—
The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede away.
The lasses are lonely and dowie and wae;
Nae daffin’, nae gabbin’, but sighing and sabbing,
Ilk ane lifts her leglen and hies her away.
The bandsters are lyart and runkled and gray;
At fair or at preaching, nae wooing, nae fleeching,—
The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede away.
’Bout stacks wi’ the lasses at bogle to play;
But ilk ane sits dreary, lamenting her dearie,—
The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede away.
The English for ance by guile won the day;
The Flowers of the Forest that focht aye the foremost,
The prime o’ our land, are cauld in the clay.
Women and bairns are heartless and wae;
Sighing and moaning on ilka green loaning,—
The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede away.