'Twas even: the dewy fields were green, On every blade the pearls hang; The zephyr wanton'd round the bean, And bore its fragrant sweets alang: In ev'ry glen the mavis sang, All nature list'ning seem'd the while, Except where greenwood echoes rang, Amang the braes o' Ballochmyle. With careless step I onward stray'd, My heart rejoic'd in nature's joy, When, musing in a lonely glade, A maiden fair I chanc'd to spy: Her look was like the morning's eye, Her air like nature's vernal smile: Perfection whisper'd, passing by, "Behold the lass o' Ballochmyle!" Fair is the morn in flowery May, And sweet is night in autumn mild; When roving thro' the garden gay, Or wand'ring in the lonely wild: But woman, nature's darling child! There all her charms she does compile; Even there her other works are foil'd By the bonnie lass o' Ballochmyle. O, had she been a country maid, And I the happy country swain, Tho' shelter'd in the lowest shed That ever rose on Scotland's plain! Thro' weary winter's wind and rain, With joy, with rapture, I would toil; And nightly to my bosom strain The bonnie lass o' Ballochmyle. Then pride might climb the slipp'ry steep, Where frame and honours lofty shine; And thirst of gold might tempt the deep, Or downward seek the Indian mine: Give me the cot below the pine, To tend the flocks or till the soil; And ev'ry day have joys divine With the bonnie lass o' Ballochmyle. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MOZART'S REQUIEM by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS THE COMMON LOT by JAMES MONTGOMERY EPIGRAM ON QUEEN CAROLINE'S DEATHBED by ALEXANDER POPE ARE THE CHILDREN AT HOME? by MARGARET ELIZABETH MUNSON SANGSTER EXTEMPORE EFFUSION UPON THE DEATH OF JAMES HOGG by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH BALLAD TO THE TUNE - 'AND WILL YOU NOW TO PEACE INCLINE' by PATRICK CAREY ON RECEIVING FROM A LADY A PRESENT OF A RING by GEORGE CRABBE |