Sailor's courtship (1822)/I'll soon ha'e a wife o' my ain

A WIFE OF MY AIN.

Frae Clyde to the banks o' sweet Earn,
⁠I ve travel'd fu' mon lang mile.
But thoughts of my dearest lass Annie,
⁠th wearisome hours did beguile:
The happy wae night that we parted,
⁠she vow'd she wou'd constant remain;
My heart-strings a' dirl'd wi' fondness!
⁠I kiss'd and kiss’d her again.

Tis no 'cause her cheeks are like roses,
⁠nor yet for her dark rollin' e'e,
'Tis no for her sweet comely features,
⁠these charms are naething to me
The storms o life may soon blast them,
⁠or sickness make them fade away;
But virtue, when fix'd in the bosom,
⁠will flourish, and never decay.

Nae langer I'll spend a' my sister,
⁠nae langer I'll now ly my land,
Nae langer I'll hunt after hizzies,
⁠I'll soon ha'e a wife o' my ain
For mony wild foot I ha'e wander'd,
⁠and mony lang night spent in vain,
Wi' drinkin' and dancin', and courtin',
⁠but I'll soon ha'e a wife o' my ain.

Her mither's ay flytin' and roarin',
⁠I rede you tak' tent o' that chiel;
He'll no be that canny to live wi',
⁠he'll ne'er be like douse Geordy Steel,
He's courted wi' o'er mony lasses,
⁠to slight them he thinks it gude fun;
He'll mak' but a sober ha'f-marrow,
⁠ye'll best rue before ye be bound.

Tho' Geordy be laird of a housie,
⁠and brags o' his kye and his pelf,
Tho' warld's gear I be right scant o',
⁠a fig for't, as lang's I've my heath:
If ance I were kippel'd wi' Annie,
⁠she'll, seldom ha'e cause to complain:
We'll jog on thro' life ay right canny,
⁠when I a wife get o' my ain.

But if that my Annie prove faithless,
⁠and marry before I return;
I'll no, like a cuiff, greet about her,
⁠nor vet for ae minute wi'l mourn;
Awa' straught to some ther beauty,
⁠without loss o' time I will hie
And show to the lasses I'm careless,
⁠unless is they're as willin' as I