On Love:
A thief sae pawkie is my Jean,
To steal a blink, by a’ unseen;
But gleg as light are lover’s een,
When kind love is in her e’e.
(From: This Is No My Ain Lassie)
All in its rude and prickly bower,
That crimson rose, how sweet and fair;
But love is far a sweeter flower,
Amid life’s thorny path o’ care.
(From: O Bonie Was Yon Rosy Brier)
But hawks will rob the tender joys
That bless the little lintwhite’s nest;
And frost will blight the fairest flowers,
And love will break the soundest rest.
(From: Bonie Jean: A Ballad)
Dear Myra, the captive ribband’s mine,
‘Twas all my faithful love could gain;
And would you ask me to resign
The sole reward that crowns my pain?
(From: The Captive Ribband)
Love for love 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!
(From: Ae Fond Kiss)
The world then the love should know
I bear my Highland Lassie, O.
(From: My Highland Lassie, O)
This is no my ain lassie,
Fair tho, the lassie be;
Weel ken I my ain lassie,
Kind love is in her e’re.
(From: This Is No My Ain Lassie)
On Life:
Ae night they’re mad wi’ drink an’ whoring,
Niest day their life is past enduring.
(From: The Twa Dogs)
Life is not worth having with all it can give-
For something beyond it poor man sure must live.
(From: The Fall Of The Leaf)
Whase life is like a weel-gaun mill,
Supplied wi’ store o’ water;
The heaped happer’s ebbing still,
An’ still the clap plays clatter.
(From: Address To The Unco Guid)