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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]

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I dinna blame thy bonnie Face.

I dinna blame thy bonnie face,
Thy pawky smile an' wit refined,
Nor thy fair form's bewitching grace,
As lightsome as the mountain wind;
For these how many a lover brooks,
Since lovelier, man can never see!
But sair I blame thy kindly looks,
And kindly words thou said'st to me.
I could have gazed both morn and even
On that entrancing face of thine,
As I would gaze upon the heaven,
Yet never think of it as mine;
I could have joy'd to see thee blest,
A comely bride, a happy wife,
But what thy tongue to me profess'd
Has ruin'd a' my peace for life.

438

I never valued aught sae dear
As Mary's hand an' Mary's smile;
But, ah! I never had a fear
That baith were grantit to beguile:
Yet I can never cease to love,
And when to Heaven I bow the knee
To ask a blessing from above,
My heart shall ask the same for thee!