MY COLLIER LADDIE
I
‘O, whare live ye, my bonie lass,
And tell me how they ca' ye?’
‘My name,’ she says, ‘is Mistress Jean,
And I follow the collier laddie.’
II
‘O, see you not yon hills and dales
The sun shines on sae brawlie?
They a' are mine, and they shall be thine,
Gin ye'll leave your collier laddie!
III
‘An' ye shall gang in gay attire,
Weel buskit up sae gaudy,
And ane to wait on every hand,
Gin ye'll leave your collier laddie!’
IV
‘Tho' ye had a' the sun shines on,
And the earth conceals sae lowly,
I wad turn my back on you and it a',
And embrace my collier laddie.
V
‘I can win my five pennies in a day,
An' spend it at night fu' brawlie,
And make my bed in the collier's neuk
And lie down wi' my collier laddie.
VI
‘Loove for loove is the bargain for me,
Tho' the wee cot-house should haud me,
And the warld before me to win my bread—
And fair fa' my collier laddie!’
