William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909.
Johnnie CopeAdam Skirving (17191803)
C
‘Charlie, meet me an ye daur,
And I’ll learn you the art o’ war,
If you’ll meet me in the morning.’
Or are your drums a-beating yet?
If ye were wauking I wad wait
To gang to the coals i’ the morning.
He drew his sword the scabbard from:
‘Come, follow me, my merry, merry men,
And we’ll meet Johnnie Cope in the morning!
Come, let us try both fire and sword;
And dinna flee away like a frighted bird,
That’s chased frae its nest in the morning.’
He thought it wadna be amiss
To ha’e a horse in readiness
To flee awa’ in the morning.
The Highland bagpipes mak’ a din;
It’s best to sleep in a hale skin,
For ’twill be a bluidy morning.
They speered at him, ‘Where’s a’ your men?’
‘The deil confound me gin I ken,
For I left them a’ i’ the morning.’
To come wi’ the news o’ your ain defeat,
And leave your men in sic a strait
Sae early in the morning.
Wi’ their claymores and philabegs;
If I face them again, deil break my legs!
So I wish you a gude morning.’