The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd :: :: University of Virginia Library

The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd

Centenary Edition. With a Memoir of the Author, by the Rev. Thomas Thomson ... Poems and Life. With Many Illustrative Engravings [by James Hogg]

Hogg, James (1770-1835)

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The Soldier's Widow.

[_]

Tune—“Gilderoy.”

An' art thou fled, my bonny boy,
An' left me here alane?
Wha now will love or care for me,
When thou art dead an' gane?
Thy father fell in freedom's cause,
With gallant Moore in Spain:
Now thou art gane, my bonny boy,
An' left me here alane!

I hop'd when thou wert grown a man
To trace his looks in thine,
An' saw, wi' joy, thy sparkling eye
Wi' kindling vigour shine.
I thought, when I was fail'd, I might
Wi' you an' yours remain;
But thou art fled, my bonny boy,
An' left me here alane!

Now clos'd an' set that sparkling eye!
Thy breast is cauld as clay!
An' a' my hope, an' a' my joy,
Wi' thee are reft away.
Ah! fain wad I that comely clay
Reanimate again!
But thou art fled, my bonny boy,
An' left me here alane!

The flower, now fading on the lee,
Shall fresher rise to view;
The leaf, just fallen from the tree,
The year will soon renew:
But lang may I weep o'er thy grave,
Ere you revive again!
For thou art fled, my bonny boy,
An' left me here alane!