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Home  »  The World’s Best Poetry  »  “O, saw ye the lass?”

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

I. Admiration

“O, saw ye the lass?”

Richard Ryan (1796–1849)

O, SAW ye the lass wi’ the bonny blue een?

Her smile is the sweetest that ever was seen;

Her cheek like the rose is, but fresher, I ween;

She ’s the loveliest lassie that trips on the green.

The home of my love is below in the valley,

Where wild-flowers welcome the wandering bee;

But the sweetest of flowers in that spot that is seen

Is the maid that I love wi’ the bonny blue een.

When night overshadows her cot in the glen,

She ’ll steal out to meet her loved Donald again;

And when the moon shines on the valley so green,

I ’ll welcome the lass wi’ the bonny blue een.

As the dove that has wandered away from his nest

Returns to the mate his fond heart loves the best,

I ’ll fly from the world’s false and vanishing scene,

To my dear one, the lass wi’ the bonny blue een.