The Book of Scottish Song/The bricht Star

The bricht Star.

[Alexander Keay, a ploughman in the Kingsmuir, Fifeshire. Air, "The bonnie hawthorn."—Here first printed.]

The bricht star o' e'enin' peep'd forth frae the sky,
The winds were a' hush'd,—not a mortal was nigh,
When Jenny walk'd forth 'mid the primroses pale,
And pour'd her fond plaint in the sweet lovely vale.

"Ye fairies that dance in yon wild lonely dell,
Whose drink is the dew frae the sweet flow'rets bell,
Whose food is the incense that's borne on the gale
From the primrose and hawthorn that bloom in the vale.

"O say, have you seen a young swain passing by,
With health on his cheek, and with love in his eye:
Detain the fond youth—now his sighs shall prevail
With the maid he oft woo'd in the sweet flow'ry vale.

"O sweet smells the bean in the saft summer shower,
And sweet sings the merle in his green leafy bower;
But sweeter to me is my fond lover's tale,
Where the primrose and hawthorn bloom sweet in the vale."

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