OF A' THE AIRTS.1

OF a' the airts the wind can blaw,
I dearly like the west,

For there the bonie lassie lives,

The lassie I lo'e best:

There wild woods grow, and rivers row,

And monie a hill between;

But day and night my fancy's flight

Is ever wi' my Jean.

I see her in the dewy flowers,
I see her sweet and fair:

I hear her in the tunefu' birds,

I hear her charm the air:

There's not a bonie flower that springs

By fountain, shaw, or green,

There's not a bonie bird that sings,

But minds me o' my Jean.

1 This was written at Ellisland, in June, 1788. song I composed out of compliment to Mrs. Burns. the honeymoon."

Burns said of it: "This
N. B. It was during

1 One of the author's early pieces, written in 1780. Of it Burns wrote, in 1793: "I do not think it very remarkable, either for its merits or demerits." Mrs. Oliphant asks: "Could there be a more delicate expression of that supremacy of one, which is too penetrating, too ethereal, to mean merely a selection of the most beautiful?"

O Mary, canst thou wreck his peace,

Wha for thy sake wad gladly die?
Or canst thou break that heart of his,

Whase only faut is loving thee?
If love for love thou wilt na gie,
At least be pity to me shown:
A thought ungentle canna be
The thought o' Mary Morison.

20

MY NANNIE'S AWA.1

TUNE-"There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame."

Now in her green mantle blythe Nature arrays,
And listens the lambkins that bleat o'er the braes,
While birds warble welcomes in ilka green shaw;
But to me it's delightless-my Nannie's awa.

The snawdrap and primrose our woodlands adorn,
And violets bathe in the weet o' the morn:
They pain my sad bosom, sae sweetly they blaw,
They mind me o' Nannie-and Nannie's awa.

Thou lav'rock that springs frae the dews.o' the lawn,
The shepherd to warn o' the gray-breaking dawn,
And thou, mellow mavis, that hails the nightfa',
Gie over for pity-my Nannie's awa.

5

ΙΟ

Come autumn, sae pensive, in yellow and gray,
And soothe me wi' tidings o' Nature's decay;
The dark, dreary winter, and wild-driving snaw,
Alane can delight me-now Nannie's awa.

15

1 The lady referred to as Nannie was Agnes Craig (Mrs. M'Lehose), known also in Burns's correspondence under the name of Clarinda.