Thou bonnie wood o' Craigielea! Thou bonnie wood o' Craigielea! Near thee I pass'd life's early day, And won my Mary's heart in thee. The brume, the brier, the birken bush, Blume bonnie o'er thy flowery lee, An a the sweets that ane can wish Frae Nature's han, are strewed on thee. Far ben thy dark green plantin's shade, The cushat croodles am'rously, The mavis, doon thy bughted glade, Gars echo ring frae ev'ry tree. Awa, ye thochtless, murd'rin gang Wha tear the nestlins ere they flee! They'll sing you yet a cantie sang, Then, oh! in pity let them be! Whan Winter blaws, in sleety showers, Frae aff the Norlan hills sae hie, He lichtly skiffs thy bonnie bow'rs, As laith tae harm a flow'r in thee. Though fate should drag me south the line, Or o'er the wide Atlantic sea, The happy hours I'll ever mind That I, in youth, hae spent in thee. birken=birch ben=within cushat=wood-pigeon mavis=song-thrush bughted=sheltered gars=makes cantie=tuneful skiffs=touches lightly in passing laith tae=loath to
© Copyright Len Nicholson, 1996