Alison Rutherford Cockburn: The Flowers of the Forest
I’VE 1 seen the smiling | |
Of Fortune beguiling; | |
I’ve felt all its favours, and found its decay; | |
Sweet was its blessing, | |
Kind its caressing; | 5 |
But now it is fled—fled far away. | |
I’ve seen the forest | |
Adorned the foremost, | |
With flowers of the fairest, most pleasant and gay; | |
Sae bonnie was their blooming! | 10 |
Their scent the air perfuming! | |
But now they are withered and a’ wede away. | |
I’ve seen the morning | |
With gold the hills adorning, | |
And loud tempest storming before the mid-day. | 15 |
I’ve seen Tweed’s silver streams, | |
Shinning in the sunny beams | |
Grow drumly and dark as he rowed on his way. | |
Oh, fickle Fortune! | |
Why this cruel sporting? | 20 |
Oh, why still perplex us, poor sons of a day? | |
Nae mair your smiles can cheer me, | |
Nae mair your frowns can fear me; | |
For the flowers of the forest are a’ wede away. |