Robert Burns (1759–1796). Poems and Songs.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 400. Song—Lovely young Jessie |
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| TRUE hearted was he, the sad swain o’ the Yarrow, | |
| And fair are the maids on the banks of the Ayr; | |
| But by the sweet side o’ the Nith’s winding river, | |
| Are lovers as faithful, and maidens as fair: | |
| To equal young JESSIE seek Scotland all over; | 5 |
| To equal young JESSIE you seek it in vain, | |
| Grace, beauty, and elegance, fetter her lover, | |
| And maidenly modesty fixes the chain. | |
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| O, fresh is the rose in the gay, dewy morning, | |
| And sweet is the lily, at evening close; | 10 |
| But in the fair presence o’ lovely young Jessie, | |
| Unseen is the lily, unheeded the rose. | |
| Love sits in her smile, a wizard ensnaring; | |
| Enthron’d in her een he delivers his law: | |
| And still to her charms SHE alone is a stranger; | 15 |
| Her modest demeanour’s the jewel of a’. | |
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