 | The Poems of Robert Fergusson |  |
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[Where winding Forth adorns the vale]
I
Where winding Forth adorns the vale,Fond Strephon, once a shepherd gay,
Did to the rocks his lot bewail,
And thus address'd his plaintive lay:
“O Julia! more than lily fair,
“More blooming than the kindling rose,
“How can thy breast relentless wear
“A heart more cold than winter's snows.
II
“Yet nipping winter's keenest reign,“But for a short-liv'd space prevails;
“Spring-time returns and cheers each swain,
“Scented with Flora's fragrant gales.
“Come, Julia, come, thy love obey,
“Thou mistress of angelic charms!
“Come smiling like the morn in May,
“And center in thy Strephon's arms.
III
“Else haunted by the fiend despair,“He'll court some solitary grove,
“Where mortal foot did ne'er repair,
“But swains oppress'd by hapless love.
“From the once pleasing rural throng,
“Remov'd, he'll thro' the desart stray,
“Where Philomela's mournful song,
“Shall join his melancholy lay.”
| The Poems of Robert Fergusson | |