THE RUSTIC LAD'S LAMENT IN THE TOWN.
I
O wad that my time were owre but,
Wi' this wintry sleet and snaw,
That I might see our house again,
I' the bonnie birken shaw!
For this is no my ain life,
And I peak and pine away
Wi' the thochts o' hame and the young flowers,
In the glad green month o' May.
II
I used to wauk in the morning
Wi' the loud sang o' the lark,
And the whistling o' the ploughmen lads,
As they gaed to their wark;
I used to wear the bit young lambs
Frae the tod and the roaring stream;
But the warld is chang'd, and a' thing now
To me seems like a dream!
III
There are busy crowds around me,
On ilka lang dull street;
Yet, tho' sae mony surround me,
I kenna ane I meet;
And I think o' kind, kent faces,
And o' blithe an' cheery days,
When I wandered out wi' our ain folk,
Out-owre the simmer braes.
IV
Waes me, for my heart is breaking!
I think o' my brithers sma',
And on my sister greeting,
Whan I cam frae hame awa!
And oh! how my mither sobbit,
As she shook me by the hand,
When I left the door o' our auld house,
To come to this stranger land.
V
There's nae hame like our ain hame—
O I wush that I were there!
There's nae hame like our ain hame,
To be met wi' ony where;
And O that I were back again,
To our farm and fields sae green;
And heard the tongues o' my ain folk,
And were what I hae been!
