A Night Out with Burns Read Online Free PDF

day I sought her O,
    Wha gets her needs na say he’s woo’d,
    But he may say he’s bought her O.—

    Come draw a drap o’ the best o’t yet,
    Come draw a drap o’ the best o’t yet:
    Gae seek for Pleasure whare ye will,
    But here I never misst it yet.—

    We’re a’ dry wi’ drinkin o’t,
    We’re a’ dry wi’ drinkin o’t:
    The minister kisst the fidler’s wife,
    He could na preach for thinkin o’t.—

    R obert Burns saw love as an expression of natural freedom, but he understood well enough that it might also be experienced as a mode of performance. In Edinburgh, he fell for a married lady, Agnes McLehose, or Nancy, who lived alone in Potter Row, and he turned their brief affair into a sometimes rapturous drama of drawing-room manners. They took arcadian names, Clarinda and Sylvander, and played their respective parts in a way that offered no great insult to sincerity. ‘Ae Fond Kiss’ is proof of that: the final stanza, said Walter Scott, ‘contains the essence of a thousand love tales’.

    Ae Fond Kiss
    Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
    Ae fareweel, and then for ever!
    Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee,
    Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee.—

    Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,
    While the star of hope she leaves him:
    Me, nae chearful twinkle lights me;
    Dark despair around benights me.—

    I’ll ne’er blame my partial fancy,
    Naething could resist my Nancy:
    But to see her, was to love her;
    Love but her, and love for ever.—

    Had we never lov’d sae kindly,
    Had we never lov’d sae blindly!
    Never met—or never parted,
    We had ne’er been broken-hearted.—

    Fare-thee-weel, thou first and fairest!
    Fare-thee-weel, thou best and dearest!
    Thine be ilka joy and treasure,
    Peace, Enjoyment, Love and Pleasure!—
    Ae fond kiss, and then we sever!
    Ae fareweel, Alas, for ever!
    Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee,
    Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee.—

    A birk is a silver birch tree. It has a talent for growing in poor soil and a lifespan between sixty and ninety years. The bark is usually white and smooth, the twigs are waxy, and fresh green foliage appears to dress the trees in spring. The unobtrusive flowers appear in April and the small fruits in June.

    Afton Water
    Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes,
    Flow gently, I’ll sing thee a song in thy praise;
    My Mary’s asleep by thy murmuring stream,
    Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.

    Thou stock dove whose echo resounds thro’ the glen,
    Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den,
    Thou green crested lapwing thy screaming forbear,
    I charge you disturb not my slumbering Fair.

    How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighbouring hills,
    Far mark’d with the courses of clear, winding rills;
    There daily I wander as noon rises high,
    My flocks and my Mary’s sweet Cot in my eye.

    How pleasant thy banks and green vallies below,
    Where wild in the woodlands the primroses blow;
    There oft as mild ev’ning weeps over the lea,
    The sweet scented birk shades my Mary and me.

    Thy chrystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides,
    And winds by the cot where my Mary resides;
    How wanton thy waters her snowy feet lave,
    As gathering sweet flowerets she stems thy clear wave.
    Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes,
    Flow gently, sweet River, the theme of my lays;
    My Mary’s asleep by thy murmuring stream,
    Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.

    K enneth McKellar sings it with the sonority of the truly smitten. Peter Morrison sings it more expansively, as if he were gathering the earth’s purest elements into a single song. Jean Redpath sings it as if she were reaching gently for the impossible and Ed Miller sings it wistfully, as if he were addressing a girl from a passing train. Eddi Reader brings to it a beautiful native