The Book of Scottish Song/The Woods o' Castle Doune

The Woods o' Castle Doune.

[James Macdonald.—Here first printed.]

Ye bonnie woods o' castle Doune, ye knowes and fairy braes,
An' a' ye glens an' leafy glades—the haunt of happy days;
The licht o' heaven disna shine sae sweetly on me now
As when I saw ye lang lang syne, amang the silver dew.

Ye summer winds that sang sae sweet alang the broomy hills,
Ye wee bit flowers that smiled sae glad beside the dancing rills,
Your sang an' smile they canna wile the wrinkles aff my brow,
For a' my greenerie o' life is brown an' faded now.

But yet my e'e can dimly see, amid its gloamin' hour,
The shadow of a joyous dream,—the semblance of a flower,
An' sic a flower as only blessed the bowers of Paradise
When Eden lay beneath the ray o' smiling infant skies.

O saftly play, ye breezes play, around that winsome flower,
And gently fa', ye dew drops fa' abune her summer bower;
For ne'er since bonnie castle Doune was biggit on yon brae
Did e'er ye fan a fairer flower than lovely Henney Gray.

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