Quo' I, "Sweet maiden, look nae down,
But gie 's a kiss, and gang wi' me:"
A lovelier face, oh! never look'd up,
And the tears were drapping frae her e'e:
"I hae a lad, wha 's far awa',
That weel could win a woman's will;
My heart 's already fu' o' love,"
Quo' the lovely lass of Preston Mill.
"Now wha is he wha could leave sic a lass,
To seek for love in a far countrie?"
Her tears drapp'd down like simmer dew:
I fain wad kiss'd them frae her e'e.
I took but ane o' her comely cheek;
"For pity's sake, kind sir, be still!
My heart is fu' o' ither love,"
Quo' the lovely lass of Preston Mill.
She stretch'd to heaven her twa white hands,
And lifted up her watery e'e—
"Sae lang 's my heart kens aught o' God,
Or light is gladsome to my e'e;
While woods grow green, and burns rin clear,
Till my last drap o' blood be still,
My heart shall haud nae other love,"
Quo' the lovely lass of Preston Mill.
There 's comely maids on Dee's wild banks,
And Nith's romantic vale is fu';
By lanely Cluden's hermit stream
Dwells mony a gentle dame, I trow.
Oh, they are lights of a gladsome kind,
As ever shone on vale or hill;
But there 's a light puts them a' out,
The lovely lass of Preston Mill.
GANE WERE BUT THE WINTER CAULD.
Gane were but the winter cauld,
And gane were but the snaw,
I could sleep in the wild woods,
Where primroses blaw.
Cauld 's the snaw at my head,
And cauld at my feet,
And the finger o' death 's at my een,
Closing them to sleep.
Let nane tell my father,
Or my mither dear:
I 'll meet them baith in heaven,
At the spring o' the year.