---
title: "On a Bank of Flowers"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1789"
location: "Ellisland"
source: "Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns"
source_url: "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt"
canonical_url: "https://robert-burns.com/poems/on-a-bank-of-flowers/"
---

# On a Bank of Flowers

## Poem
On a bank of flowers, in a summer day,  
For summer lightly drest,  
The youthful, blooming Nelly lay,  
With love and sleep opprest;  
When Willie, wand’ring thro’ the wood,  
Who for her favour oft had sued;  
He gaz’d, he wish’d  
He fear’d, he blush’d,  
And trembled where he stood.

Her closed eyes, like weapons sheath’d,  
Were seal’d in soft repose;  
Her lip, still as she fragrant breath’d,  
It richer dyed the rose;  
The springing lilies, sweetly prest,  
Wild-wanton kissed her rival breast;  
He gaz’d, he wish’d,  
He mear’d, he blush’d,  
His bosom ill at rest.

Her robes, light-waving in the breeze,  
Her tender limbs embrace;  
Her lovely form, her native ease,  
All harmony and grace;  
Tumultuous tides his pulses roll,  
A faltering, ardent kiss he stole;  
He gaz’d, he wish’d,  
He fear’d, he blush’d,  
And sigh’d his very soul.

As flies the partridge from the brake,  
On fear-inspired wings,  
So Nelly, starting, half-awake,  
Away affrighted springs;  
But Willie follow’d—as he should,  
He overtook her in the wood;  
He vow’d, he pray’d,  
He found the maid  
Forgiving all, and good.

---

Source: [Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt)  
Canonical HTML: https://robert-burns.com/poems/on-a-bank-of-flowers/