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Home  »  Poems of Places An Anthology in 31 Volumes  »  The Lassie o’ Carmyle

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.

Carmyle

The Lassie o’ Carmyle

By Hugh Macdonald (1817–1860)

’T WAS on a bonnie simmer morn,

The fields were wet wi’ dew,

And Clutha’s banks were clad wi’ flowers

Of fairest form and hue;

The wild birds sang their sweetest notes,

Blithe Phœbus ceased to smile,

As wandering forth I chanced to meet

The lassie o’ Carmyle.

Her glowing cheek outrivalled far

The rosebud’s sweetest hue;

Her hair was like the raven’s wing,

Her eyes a lovely blue.

O’ercome with love and sweet surprise,

Entranced I stood awhile,

Then fondly clasped, in warm embrace,

The lassie o’ Carmyle.

Yon sweet wee gowan on the bank

Wi’ her could ne’er compare;

The primrose pale, the violet’s blue,

Were ne’er so sweet and fair.

I told my love wi’ artless tongue,

Wi’ heart unstained by guile;

She blushed, she smiled, but noo she ’s mine,

The lassie o’ Carmyle.

Unheeded now, ambition scales

The slippery hill of fame;

Unenvied now, pale avarice gains

Blind fortune’s fickle game:

For what are rank or fame to me

Compared wi’ her sweet smile?

My heart’s first treasure still shall be

The lassie o’ Carmyle.