English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 299. The Flowers of the Forest |
| | | Alison Rutherford Cockburn (1712–1794) |
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| I’VE 1 seen the smiling | |
| Of Fortune beguiling; | |
| I’ve felt all its favours, and found its decay; | |
| Sweet was its blessing, | |
| Kind its caressing; | 5 |
| But now it is fled—fled far away. | |
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| I’ve seen the forest | |
| Adorned the foremost, | |
| With flowers of the fairest, most pleasant and gay; | |
| Sae bonnie was their blooming! | 10 |
| Their scent the air perfuming! | |
| But now they are withered and a’ wede away. | |
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| I’ve seen the morning | |
| With gold the hills adorning, | |
| And loud tempest storming before the mid-day. | 15 |
| I’ve seen Tweed’s silver streams, | |
| Shinning in the sunny beams | |
| Grow drumly and dark as he rowed on his way. | |
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| Oh, fickle Fortune! | |
| Why this cruel sporting? | 20 |
| Oh, why still perplex us, poor sons of a day? | |
| Nae mair your smiles can cheer me, | |
| Nae mair your frowns can fear me; | |
| For the flowers of the forest are a’ wede away. | |
| | | Note 1. “The flowers of the Forest” in this and the following song are the men of Ettrick Forest in Selkirkshire who fell at the battle of Flodden. [back] |
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