Monday 5 September 2011

It is na, Jean, thy bonnie face


We've come back to Robbie Burns already! This is much less obscure that the Scotch songs I've posted so far, and not exactly in need of me to promote it - but all the same, I love this.


It is na, Jean, thy bonnie face,
Nor shape that I admire;
Altho' thy beauty and thy grace
Might weel awauk desire.

Something, in ilka part o' thee,
To praise, to love, I find,
But dear as is thy form to me,
Still dearer is thy mind.

Nae mair ungenerous wish I hae,
Nor stronger in my breast,
Than, if I canna make thee sae,
At least to see thee blest.

Content am I, if heaven shall give
But happiness to thee;
And as wi' thee I'd wish to live,
For thee I'd bear to die.


The almost-unrelated picture is Dicksee's 'The End of the Quest'; I just found it and will probably be using it to illustrate pretty much every post from now on. You have fair warning.

1 comment:

Theodric the Obscure said...

Great pairing! I'm surprised nobody's put up a bigger copy of the Dicksee painting.