"But how sall I your true love find,
Or how suld I her know?
I bear a tongue ne'er wi' her spake,
An eye that ne'er her saw."20
"O weel sall ye my true love ken,
Sae sune as ye her see;
For, of a' the flowers of fair England,
The fairest flower is she.
"The red, that's on my true love's cheek,25
[Is like blood-drops on the snaw;]
The white, that is on her breast bare,
Like the down o' the white sea-maw
"And even at my love's bouer-door
There grows a flowering birk;30
And ye maun sit and sing thereon
As she gangs to the kirk.
"And four-and-twenty fair ladyes
Will to the mass repair;
But weel may ye my ladye ken,35
The fairest ladye there."
Lord William has written a love-letter,
Put it under his pinion gray;
And he is awa to southern land
As fast as wings can gae.40
And even at the ladye's bour
There grew a flowering birk;
And he sat down and sung thereon
As she gaed to the kirk.
And weel he kent that ladye fair45
Amang her maidens free;
For the flower that springs in May morning
Was not sae sweet as she.
He lighted at the ladye's yate,
And sat him on a pin;50
And sang fu' sweet the notes o' love,
Till a' was cosh within.