LXVIII.
BLOOMING NELLY.
Tune—“On a bank of flowers.”
[One of the lyrics of Allan Ramsay’s collection seems to have been in the mind of Burns when he wrote this: the words and air are in the Museum.]
I.
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.
II.
Her closed eyes like weapons sheath’d,
Were seal’d in soft repose;
Her lips still as she fragrant breath’d,
It richer dy’d the rose.
The springing lilies sweetly prest,
Wild—wanton, kiss’d her rival breast;
He gaz’d, he wish’d, he fear’d, he blush’d—
His bosom ill at rest.
III.