Wha would shun the field o' danger?
Wha to fame would live a stranger?
Now when Freedom bids avenge her,
Wha would shun her ca', lassie?
Loudon's bonnie woods and braes,
Ha'e seen our happy bridal days,
And gentle hope shall soothe thy waes,
When I am far awa', lassie.
Hark! the swelling bugle rings,
Yielding joy to thee, laddie;
But the dolefu' bugle brings
Wacfu' thochts to me, laddie.
Lanely I may climb the mountain,
Lanely stray beside the fountain,
Still the weary moments counting,
Far frae love and thee, laddie.
Ower ths gory fields o' war,
Where Vengeance drives his crimson car,
Thou'lt maybe fa', frae me afar,
And nane to close thy e'e, laddie.
Oh, resume thy wonted smile,
Oh, suppress thy fears, lassie;
Glorious honour crowns the toil
That the soldier shares, lassie:
Heaven will shield thy faithful lover,
Till the vengeful strife is over;
Then we'll meet, nae mair to sever,
Till the day we dee, lassie:
Midst our bonnie woods and braes,
We'll spend our peaceful happy days,
As blythe's yon lichtsome lamb that plays
On Loudon's flowery lea, lassie.
Somebody.
[The following are the old verses to the now popular tune of "Somebody." They appear in the Tea Table Miscellany without signature, and are probably by Ramsay himself.]
For the sake of somebody,
For the sake of somebody,
I could wake a winter nicht,
For the sake of somebody.
I am gaun to seek a wife,
I am gaun to buy a plaidy;
I have three stane o' woo';
Carline, is thy daughter ready?
For the sake of somebody, &c.
Betty, lassie, say't thysell,
Though thy dame be ill to shoe:
First we'll buckle, then we'll tell;
Let her flyte, and syne come to.
What signifies a mother's gloom,
When love and kisses come in play?
Should we wither in our bloom,
And in simmer mak' nae hay?
Bonny lad, I carena by,
Though I try my luck wi' thee,
Since ye are content to tie
The half-mark bridal-band wi' me.
I'll slip hame and wash my feet,
And steal on linens fair and clean;
Syne at the trysting-place we'll meet,
To do but what my dame has done.
Now my lovely Betty gives
Consent in sic a heartsome gate,
It me frae a' my care relieves,
And doubts that gart me aft look blate.
Then let us gang and get the grace;
For they that have an appetite
Should eat; and lovers should embrace:
If these be faults, 'tis nature's wyte.
Somebody.
[Written by Burns for Johnson's Museum. Burns, it will be seen, borrowed two or three lines from the opening stanza of the old verses. Hogg, in his Jacobite Relics, gives a version of the song in which the "Somebody" is made to mean the dethroned Stuart, but it is clearly a fabrication.]
My heart is sair—I daurna tell—
My heart is sair for somebody;
I could wake a winter night,
For the sake of somebody.
Ochon, for somebody!
Och hey, for somebody!
I could range the warld round,
For the sake of somebody.
Ye powers that smile on virtuous love,
O, sweetly smile on somebody!
Frae ilka danger keep him free,
And send me safe my somebody.
