O hark to the strain that sae[120-1] sweetly is ringin’,
And echoing clearly o’er lake and o’er lea,[120-2]
Like some fairy bird in the wilderness singin’;
It thrills to my heart, yet nae[120-3] minstrel I see.
Round yonder rock knittin’, a dear child is sittin’,
Sae toilin’ her pitifu’ pittance[120-4] is won,
Hersel’ tho’ we see nae,[120-5] ’tis mitherless[120-6] Jeanie—
The bonnie[120-7] blind lassie that sits i’ the sun.
Five years syne come autumn[120-8] she cam’[120-9] wi’ her mither,
A sodger’s[120-10] puir[120-11] widow, sair[120-12] wasted an’ gane;[120-13]
As brown fell the leaves, sae wi’ them did she wither,
And left the sweet child on the wide world her lane.[121-14]
She left Jeanie weepin’, in His holy keepin’
Wha[121-15] shelters the lamb frae[121-16] the cauld[121-17] wintry win’;
We had little siller,[121-18] yet a’ were good till her,
The bonnie blind lassie that sits i’ the sun.
An’ blythe now an’ cheerfu’, frae mornin’ to e’enin
She sits thro’ the simmer, an’ gladdens ilk[121-19] ear,
Baith[121-20] auld and young daut[121-21] her, sae gentle and winnin’;
To a’ the folks round the wee lassie is dear.
Braw[121-22] leddies[121-23] caress her, wi’ bounties would press her;
The modest bit[121-24] darlin’ their notice would shun;
For though she has naething, proud-hearted this wee thing,
The bonnie blind lassie that sits i’ the sun.
[120-1] Sae is the Scotch word for so.
[120-2] A lea is a grassy field or meadow.
[120-3] Nae means no.
[120-4] Pittance means small earnings.
[120-5] Nae is not.
[120-6] Mither is the Scotch form of mother.
[120-7] Bonnie means pretty.