A Portrait of Robert Burns Robert Burns

1792 · Song

Highland Mary


Tune ·  Katherine Ogie

Ye banks, and braes, and streams aroundThe castle o’ Montgomery!Green be your woods, and fair your flowers,Your waters never drumlie:There Simmer first unfauld her robes,And there the langest tarry;For there I took the last FarewellO’ my sweet Highland Mary.8
How sweetly bloom’d the gay, green birk,How rich the hawthorn’s blossom,As underneath their fragrant shade,I clasp’d her to my bosom!The golden Hours on angel wings,Flew o’er me and my Dearie;For dear to me, as light and life,Was my sweet Highland Mary.16
Wi’ mony a vow, and lock’d embrace,Our parting was fu’ tender;And, pledging aft to meet again,We tore oursels asunder;But oh! fell Death’s untimely frost,That nipt my Flower sae early!Now green’s the sod, and cauld’s the clayThat wraps my Highland Mary!24
O pale, pale now, those rosy lips,I aft hae kiss’d sae fondly!And clos’d for aye, the sparkling glanceThat dwalt on me sae kindly!And mouldering now in silent dust,That heart that lo’ed me dearly!But still within my bosom’s coreShall live my Highland Mary.32
Year
1792
Form
Song
Location
Dumfries
Tune
Katherine Ogie
Source
Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns