The Book of Scottish Song/Blink o'er the burn

Blink o'er the burn.

["Blink o'er the burn, sweet Betty," is the name of an old Scottish tune to which we have different words. There must have been an old English song with a similar burthen, as the following verse is quoted in King Lear, Act iii. Scene vi.

"Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me:
⁠Her boat hath a leak
⁠And she must not speak,
Why she dares not come over to thee."

We give here two sets of the old words, the first on the authority of Burns, the second on that of Motherwell.]

I.

Blink o'er the burn, sweet Betty;
⁠It is a cauld winter night,—
It rains, it hails, and it thunders,
⁠The moon she gi'es nae light.
It's a' for the sake o' sweet Betty
⁠That ever I tint my way:
O lassie, let me creep ayont thee,
⁠Until it be break o' day.

It's Betty shall bake my bread,
⁠And Betty shall brew my ale;
And Betty shall be my love,
⁠When I come over the dale.
Blink over the burn, sweet Betty,
⁠Blink over the burn to me;
And while I ha'e life, my dear lassie,
⁠My ain sweet Betty thou's be.

II.

⁠Blink over the burn, sweet Betty,
⁠Blink over the burn to me;
⁠I would gi'e a' I had in the warld
⁠But to be a widow for thee.

In summer I mawed my meadow,
⁠In hairst I shure my corn,
In winter I married a widow,
⁠I wish she was dead the morn.
⁠Blink, &c.

The youth he was wamphlin' and wandy
⁠The lassie was quite fu' o' glee,
And aye as she cried to the laddie,
⁠Come down bonnie Tweedside to me.
⁠Blink, &c.

Come meet me again ne'er to sever,
⁠Come meet whare nae body can see,
I canna think ye're a deceiver,
⁠And mean but to lichtlie me.
⁠Blink, &c

---