Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.

Rothesay Bay

Rothesay Bay

By Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (1826–1887)

FU’ yellow lie the corn-rigs

Far doun the braid hillside;

It is the brawest harst field

Alang the shores o’ Clyde:

And I ’m a puir harst-lassie

That stan’s the lee-lang day

Shearing the corn-rigs of Ardbeg

Aboon sweet Rothesay Bay.

O, I had ance a true-love,—

Now, I hae nane ava;

And I had ance three brithers,

But I hae tint them a’;

My father and my mither

Sleep i’ the mools this day.

I sit my lane amang the rigs

Aboon sweet Rothesay Bay,

It ’s a bonnie bay at morning,

And bonnier at the noon,

But it ’s bonniest when the sun draps

And red comes up the moon:

When the mist creeps o’er the Cumbrays,

And Arran peaks are gray,

And the great black hills, like sleepin’ kings,

Sit grand roun’ Rothesay Bay,

Then a bit sigh stirs my bosom,

And a wee tear blin’s my e’e,—

And I think o’ that far Countrie

What I wad like to be!

But I rise content i’ the morning

To wark while wark I may

I’ the yellow harst field of Ardbeg

Aboon sweet Rothesay Bay.