| |
| COME all ye jolly shepherds, | |
| That whistle through the glen, | |
| I’ll tell ye of a secret | |
| That courtiers dinna ken: | |
| What is the greatest bliss | 5 |
| That the tongue o’ man can name? | |
| ’Tis to woo a bonny lassie | |
| When the kye come hame. | |
| When the kye come hame, | |
| When the kye come hame, | 10 |
| ’Tween the gloaming an’ the mirk | |
| When the kye come hame. | |
| |
| ’Tis not beneath the coronet, | |
| Nor canopy of state, | |
| ’Tis not on couch of velvet, | 15 |
| Nor arbour of the great— | |
| ’Tis beneath the spreading birk, | |
| In the glen without the name, | |
| Wi’ a bonny, bonny lassie, | |
| When the kye come hame. | 20 |
| |
| There the blackbird bigs his nest | |
| For the mate he loes to see, | |
| And on the topmost bough, | |
| O, a happy bird is he; | |
| Where he pours his melting ditty, | 25 |
| And love is a’ the theme, | |
| And he’ll woo his bonny lassie | |
| When the kye come hame. | |
| |
| When the blewart bears a pearl, | |
| And the daisy turns a pea, | 30 |
| And the bonny lucken gowan | |
| Has fauldit up her e’e, | |
| Then the laverock frae the blue lift | |
| Drops down, an’ thinks nae shame | |
| To woo his bonny lassie | 35 |
| When the kye come hame. | |
| |
| See yonder pawkie shepherd, | |
| That lingers on the hill, | |
| His ewes are in the fauld, | |
| An’ his lambs are lying still; | 40 |
| Yet he downa gang to bed, | |
| For his heart is in a flame, | |
| To meet his bonny lassie | |
| When the kye come hame. | |
| |
| When the little wee bit heart | 45 |
| Rises high in the breast, | |
| An’ the little wee bit starn | |
| Rises red in the east, | |
| O there’s a joy sae dear, | |
| That the heart can hardly frame, | 50 |
| Wi’ a bonny, bonny lassie, | |
When the kye come hame!
When the kye come hame, &c. | |
| |
| Then since all nature joins | |
| In this love without alloy, | |
| O, wha wad prove a traitor | 55 |
| To Nature’s dearest joy? | |
| Or wha wad choose a crown, | |
| Wi’ its perils and its fame, | |
| And miss his bonny lassie | |
| When the kye come hame? | 60 |
| When the kye come hame, | |
| When the kye come hame, | |
| ’Tween the gloaming and the mirk, | |
| When the kye come hame. | |
| |
