Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume V. Nature. 1904. | | | | IV. Inland Waters: Highlands | | Afton Water | | Robert Burns (1759–1796) |
| | | FLOW gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes; | |
| Flow gently, I ’ll sing thee a song in thy praise; | |
| My Mary ’s asleep by thy murmuring stream, | |
| Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream. | |
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| Thou stock-dove whose echo resounds through the glen, | 5 |
| Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den, | |
| Thou green-crested lapwing, thy screaming forbear; | |
| I charge you disturb not my slumbering fair. | |
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| How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighboring hills, | |
| Far marked with the courses of clear-winding rills! | 10 |
| There daily I wander as noon rises high, | |
| My flocks and my Mary’s sweet cot in my eye. | |
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| How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below, | |
| Where wild in the woodlands the primroses blow! | |
| There oft as mild evening weeps over the lea, | 15 |
| The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me. | |
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| Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides, | |
| And winds by the cot where my Mary resides; | |
| How wanton thy waters her snowy feet lave, | |
| As, gathering sweet flowerets, she stems thy clear wave! | 20 |
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| Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes; | |
| Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays; | |
| My Mary ’s asleep by thy murmuring stream, | |
| Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream. | | | | |
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