William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909.
Werena My Heart Licht I Wad DeeLady Grisel Baillie (16651746)
T
See biggit her bonnie bouir doun i’ yon glen;
But now she cries Dule and a well-a-day!
Come doun the green gate and come here away.
He said he saw naething sae bonnie as me;
He hecht me baith rings and monie braw things;
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
Because I was twice as bonnie as she;
She raised sic a pother ’twixt him and his mother,
That werena my heart licht I wad dee.
The wife took a dwam and lay doun to dee;
She maned, and she graned, out o’ dolour and pain,
Till he vowed that he ne’er wad see me again.
Said, what had he to do wi’ the like o’ me?
Albeit I was bonnie I wasna for Johnnie:
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
Nor dribbles o’ drink rins through the draff,
Nor pickles o’ meal rins through the mill-e’e;
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
She spied me as I cam’ ower the lea,
And then she ran in and made a loud din;
Believe your ain een an ye trow na me.
His auld ane looked aye as weel as some’s new;
But now he lets ’t wear ony gate it will hing,
And casts himsel’ dowie upon the corn-bing.
And a’ he dow do is to hund the tykes;
The live-lang nicht he ne’er steeks his e’e;
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
We should ha’e been gallopin’ doun on yon green,
And linkin’ it on the lily-white lea;
And wow gin I were but young for thee!