I then might hae hoped she wad smiled upon me;
O how past descriving had then been my bliss, describing
As now my distraction no words can express!
[O, Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast], besides being one of the most exquisite of his songs, has a pathetic interest from the circumstances under which it was composed. During the last few months of his life, a young girl called Jessie Lewars, sister of one of his colleagues in the excise, came much to his house and was of great service to Mrs. Burns and him in his last illness. One day he offered to write new verses to any tune she might play him. She sat down and played over several times the melody of an old song, beginning,
The robin came to the wren's nest,
And keekit in, and keekit in.
The following lines were the characteristic result:
O, WERT THOU IN THE CAULD BLAST
O, wert thou in the cauld blast, cold
On yonder lea, on yonder lea,