448. When the Kye Comes Hame

James Hogg (1770—1835)

  COME all ye jolly shepherds,

  That whistle through the glen,

  I’ll tell ye of a secret

  That courtiers dinna ken:

  What is the greatest bliss

  That the tongue o’ man can name?

  ’Tis to woo a bonny lassie

  When the kye comes hame.

  When the kye comes hame,

  When the kye comes hame,

  ’Tween the gloaming an’ the mirk

  When the kye comes hame.

  ’Tis not beneath the coronet,

  Nor canopy of state,

  ’Tis not on couch of velvet,

  Nor arbour of the great—

  ’Tis beneath the spreading birk,

  In the glen without the name,

  Wi’ a bonny, bonny lassie,

  When the kye comes hame.

  There the blackbird bigs his nest

  For the mate he loes to see,

  And on the topmost bough,

  O, a happy bird is he;

  Where he pours his melting ditty,

  And love is a’ the theme,

  And he’ll woo his bonny lassie

  When the kye comes hame.

  When the blewart bears a pearl,

  And the daisy turns a pea,

  And the bonny lucken gowan

  Has fauldit up her e’e,

  Then the laverock frae the blue lift

  Drops down, an’ thinks nae shame

  To woo his bonny lassie

  When the kye comes hame.

  See yonder pawkie shepherd,

  That lingers on the hill,

  His ewes are in the fauld,

  An’ his lambs are lying still;

  Yet he downa gang to bed,

  For his heart is in a flame,

  To meet his bonny lassie

  When the kye comes hame.

  When the little wee bit heart

  Rises high in the breast,

  An’ the little wee bit starn

  Rises red in the east,

  O there’s a joy sae dear,

  That the heart can hardly frame,

  Wi’ a bonny, bonny lassie,

  When the kye comes hame!

  Then since all nature joins

  In this love without alloy,

  O, wha wad prove a traitor

  To Nature’s dearest joy?

  Or wha wad choose a crown,

  Wi’ its perils and its fame,

  And miss his bonny lassie

  When the kye comes hame?

  When the kye comes hame,

  When the kye comes hame,

  ’Tween the gloaming and the mirk,

  When the kye comes hame.