Set to Music by R. A. Smith.
YE echoes that ring roun the woods o Bowgreen,
Say, did ye e'er listen sae meltin a strain,
When lovely young Jessie gaed wand'rin unseen,
An sung o' her laddie, the pride o the plain ?
Aye she sang, "Willie, my bonnie young Willie !
There's no a sweet flow'r on the mountain or valley,
Mild blue spritl'd crawflow'r, or wild woodland lily,
But tynes a its sweets in my bonnie yonng swain.
Thou goddess o Love, keep him constant tae me,
Else, with'rin in sorrow, puir Jessie shall dee !"
Her laddie had stray'd through the dark leafy wood,
His thoughts war a fixt on his dear lassie's charms,
He heard her sweet voice, a transported he stood,
Twas the soul o his wishes—he flew tae her arms.
"No, my dear Jessie! my lovely young Jessie !
Thro simmer, thro winter, I'll daut an caress thee,
Thou'rt dearer than life ! thou'rt my ae only lassie !
Then, banish thy bosom these needless alarms :
Yon red setting sun sooner changefu shall be,
Ere wav'ring in falsehood I wander frae thee."
Bowgreen,—the common or vulgar name for Balgreen. Balgreen is situated in the parish of Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, in the north-west of the parish. Balgreen at one time belonged to the Fultons, and lay to the south of the lands of Langeraft. Langeraft belonged to relations of the Poet's mother, and there she had been partly brought up with her uncle, Hugh Brodie. The Poet, in visiting his maternal relations at Langcraft, would hear the “echoes that ring roun the woods o Bowgreen.” Calderwood Glen, Balgreen, and Langcraft, are in the neighbourhood of each other.
[Semple 76]