| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | O Were My Love Yon Lilac Fair | | By Robert Burns (1759–1796) |
| | | O WERE my love yon lilac fair, | |
| Wi’ purple blossoms to the Spring, | |
| And I, a bird to shelter there, | |
| When wearied on my little wing! | |
| How I wad mourn when it was torn | 5 |
| By Autumn wild, and Winter rude! | |
| But I wad sing on wanton wing, | |
| When youthfu’ May its bloom renew’d. | |
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| O gin my love were yon red rose, | |
| That grows upon the castle wa’; | 10 |
| And I mysel a drap o’ dew, | |
| Into her bonnie breast to fa’! | |
| O there, beyond expression blest, | |
| I’d feast on beauty a’ the night; | |
| Seal’d on her silk-saft faulds to rest, | 15 |
| Till fley’d awa by Phoebus’ light! | | | | |
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