T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
The Mill, Mill—O—
Anonymous(An old Scots countryside song; [1731] from Musical Miscellany, vi. 76; also in Merry Muses of Caledonia [c. 1800], collected by Robert Burns) |
BENEATH a green shade I fand a fair maid, | |
| Was sleeping sound and still, O; | |
| A lowan wi’ love, my fancy did rove | |
| Around her wi’ good will, O; | |
| Her bosom I prest; but sunk in her rest | 5 |
| She stirr’dna my joy to spill, O, | |
| While kindly she slept, close to her I crept, | |
| And kiss’d, and kiss’d her my fill, O. | |
| Oblig’d by command in Flanders to land, | |
| T’ employ my courage and skill, O, | 10 |
| Frae her quietly I saw, hoist sails and awa, | |
| For the wind blew fair on the billow. | |
| Twa years brought me hame, where loud-fraising fame | |
| Tauld me, with a voice right shrill, O, | |
| My lass, like a fool, has mounted the stool, | 15 |
| Nor kend wha had done her the ill, O. | |
| Mair fond of her charms, with my son in her arms, | |
| I ferlyin’ speir’d how she fell, O, | |
| Wi’ the tear in her eye, quoth she, “let me die, | |
| Sweet sir, gin I can tell, O.” | 20 |
| Love gave the command, I took her by the hand, | |
| And bad her a’ fears expel, O, | |
| And nae mair look wan, for I was the man, | |
| Wha had done her the deed mysel’, O. | |
| My bonny sweet lass, on the gowany grass, | 25 |
| Beneath the Shilling hill, O; | |
| If I did offence, I’ll make ye amends, | |
| Before I leave Peggy’s mill, O. | |
| O the mill, mill, O; an’ the kill, kill, O, | |
| An’ the coggin’ of the wheel, O; | 30 |
| The sack an the sieve, a’ that ye maun leave, | |
| An’ round with a sodger reel, O. | |
ANOTHER VERSION As I came down yon water side, | |
| And by yon Shilling hill, O, | |
| There I spied a bonny lass, | 35 |
| A lass that I loved right weel, O. | |
| The mill, mill, O; and the kill, kill, O, | |
| An’ the coggin’ o’ Peggy’s wheel, O, | |
| The sack an’ the sieve, a’ she did leave, | |
| An’ danc’d the miller’s reel, O. | 40 |
| I spier’d at her, gin she cou’d play, | |
| But the lassie had nae skill, O, | |
| An’ yet she wasna a’ to blame, | |
| She pat it in my will, O. | |
| The mill, mill, O; and the kill, kill, O, | 45 |
| An’ the coggin’ o’ Peggy’s wheel, O, | |
| The sack an’ the sieve, a’ she did leave, | |
| An’ danc’d the miller’s reel, O. | |
| Then she fell o’er, an’ sae did I, | |
| An’ danc’d the miller’s reel, O, | 50 |
| Whene’er that bonny lassie comes again, | |
| She shall hae her ma’t ground weel, O. | |
| The mill, mill, O; and the kill, kill, O, | |
| An’ the coggin’ o’ Peggy’s wheel, O, | |
| The sack an’ the sieve, a’ she did leave, | 55 |
| An’ danc’d the miller’s reel, O. | |