| |
| O, BLITHELY shines the bonnie sun | |
| Upon the Isle of May, | |
| And blithely comes the morning tide | |
| Into St. Andrew’s Bay. | |
| Then up, gudeman, the breeze is fair, | 5 |
| And up, my bra’ bairns three; | |
| There ’s goud in yonder bonnie boat | |
| That sails sae weel the sea! | |
| When haddocks leave the Frith o’ Forth, | |
| An’ mussels leave the shore, | 10 |
| When oysters climb up Berwick Law, | |
| We ’ll go to sea no more, | |
| No more, | |
| We ’ll go to sea no more. | |
| |
| I ’ve seen the waves as blue as air, | 15 |
| I ’ve seen them green as grass; | |
| But I never feared their heaving yet | |
| From Grangemouth to the Bass. | |
| I ’ve seen the sea as black as pitch, | |
| I ’ve seen it white as snow; | 20 |
| But I never feared its foaming yet, | |
| Though the winds blew high or low. | |
| When squalls capsize our wooden walls, | |
| When the French ride at the Nore, | |
| When Leith meets Aberdour half-way, | 25 |
| We ’ll go to sea no more, | |
| No more, | |
| We ’ll go to sea no more. | |
| |
| I never liked the landsman’s life, | |
| The earth is aye the same; | 30 |
| Gi’e me the ocean for my dower, | |
| My vessel for my hame. | |
| Gi’e me the fields that no man plows, | |
| The farm that pays no fee; | |
| Gi’e me the bonnie fish, that glance | 35 |
| So gladly through the sea. | |
| When sails hang flapping on the masts, | |
| While through the wave we snore; | |
| When in a calm we ’re tempest-tossed, | |
| We ’ll go to sea no more, | 40 |
| No more, | |
| We ’ll go to sea no more. | |
| |
| The sun is up, and round Inchkeith | |
| The breezes softly blaw; | |
| The gudeman has the lines on board;— | 45 |
| Awa’ my bairns, awa’. | |
| An’ ye be back by gloamin’ gray, | |
| An’ bright the fire will low, | |
| An’ in your tales and sangs we ’ll tell | |
| How weel the boat ye row. | 50 |
| When life’s last sun gaes feebly down, | |
| An’ Death comes to our door; | |
| When a’ the world ’s a dream to us, | |
| We ’ll go to sea no more, | |
| No more, | 55 |
| We ’ll go to sea no more. | |
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