University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
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]

expand section 

Now well may I.

[_]

Tune—“Jacky Latin.”

Now well may I the haunts defy,
Where love unlicens'd reign'd, O,
Where sense is pall'd an' conscience gall'd,
And nature's laws profaned, O:
In yonder wood, above the flood,
Conceal'd frae ilka eye, O,
Forby the bat, an' beaming wain,
That slowly wheels on high, O.
Where blooms the brier, gie me my dear
In innocence to woo, O;
An' ilka care on earth I'll leave,
This blessing to pursue, O.
Though troubles rise, and wars increase,
And discontents prevail, O,
We'll laugh and sing, and love our king,
Till strength and vigour fail, O.