Blythe was She

Blythe was She by Robert Burns

Blythe, blythe and merry was she,

Blythe was she but and ben;

Blythe by the banks of Ern,

And blythe in Glenturit glen.

  
By Ochtertyre grows the aik,

On Yarrow banks the birken shaw;

But Phemie was a bonnier lass

Than braes o’ Yarrow ever saw.

Blythe, &c.

  
Her looks were like a flow’r in May,

Her smile was like a simmer morn:

She tripped by the banks of Ern,

As light’s a bird upon a thorn.

Blythe, &c.

  
Her bonnie face it was as meek

As ony lamb upon a lee;

The evening sun was ne’er sae sweet,

As was the blink o’ Phemie’s e’e.

Blythe, &c.

  
The Highland hills I’ve wander’d wide,

And o’er the Lowlands I hae been;

But Phemie was the blythest lass

That ever trod the dewy green.

Blythe, &c.

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Source: Robert Burns, James Currie (Publ.): The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns; London, Milner and Sowerby, p. 160.

This work published before January 1, 1923 is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.