BONNIE LASSIE, WILL YE GO.
Tune—“The birks of Aberfeldy.”
[An old strain, called “The Birks of Abergeldie,” was the forerunner of this sweet song: it was written, the poet says, standing under the Falls of Aberfeldy, near Moness, in Perthshire, during one of the tours which he made to the north, in the year 1787.]
CHORUS.
Bonnie lassie, will ye go,
Will ye go, will ye go;
Bonnie lassie, will ye go
To the birks of Aberfeldy?
I.
Now simmer blinks on flowery braes,
And o’er the crystal streamlet plays;
Come let us spend the lightsome days
In the birks of Aberfeldy.
II.
The little birdies blithely sing,
While o’er their heads the hazels hing,
Or lightly flit on wanton wing
In the birks of Aberfeldy.
III.
The braes ascend, like lofty wa’s,
The foamy stream deep-roaring fa’s,
O’erhung wi’ fragrant spreading shaws,
The birks of Aberfeldy.
IV.
The hoary cliffs are crown’d wi’ flowers,
White o’er the linns the burnie pours,
And rising, weets wi’ misty showers
The birks of Aberfeldy.
V.
Let Fortune’s gifts at random flee,
They ne’er shall draw a wish frae me,
Supremely blest wi’ love and thee,
In the birks of Aberfeldy.
Bonnie lassie, will ye go,
Will ye go, will ye go;
Bonnie lassie, will ye go
To the birks of Aberfeldy?