FIRST WHEN MAGGY WAS MY CARE.
Tune—“Whistle o’er the lave o’t.”
[The air of this song was composed by John Bruce, of Dumfries, musician: the words, though originating in an olden strain, are wholly by Burns, and right bitter ones they are. The words and air are in the Museum.]
I.
First when Maggy was my care,
Heaven, I thought, was in her air;
Now we’re married—spier nae mair—
Whistle o’er the lave o’t.—
Meg was meek, and Meg was mild,
Bonnie Meg was nature’s child;
Wiser men than me’s beguil’d—
Whistle o’er the lave o’t.
II.
How we live, my Meg and me,
How we love, and how we ‘gree,
I care na by how few may see;
Whistle o’er the lave o’t.—
Wha I wish were maggot’s meat,
Dish’d up in her winding sheet,
I could write—but Meg maun see’t—
Whistle o’er the lave o’t.