Ye banks and braes o’ bonnie Tay,
Whaur me and my Mary oft did stray;
But noo she is dead and gone far away,
Sae I maun mourn for lovely Mary, the Maid o’ the Tay,
The first time I met her ’twas in the month of May,
And the sun was shining bricht on the Silvery Tay;
I asked her name and she modestly did say,
“Some fouks ca’s me lovely Mary, the Maid o’ the Tay.”
Oh, charming Mary o’ the Tay,
Queen o’ my soul by nicht and day;
But noo thou’rt gane and left me here
To weep for you, sweet Mary dear.
Oh, bonnie Mary o’ the Tay,
Joy o’ my heart and Queen o’ May;
With thee I aye felt happy and gay
While rambling with thee on the banks o’ the Tay.
Ye banks and braes o’ bonnie Tay,
With my Mary ye seemed ever gay;
But noo ye seem baith dark and drear,
For my puir heart ye canna cheer.
My Mary was handsome and fair to be seen,
She bad bonnie fair hair and twa blue een;
And she was, aye happy while we carelessly did stray
Alang the banks o’ the Silvery Tay.
Oh, Mary dear, I mourn thy loss,
To me the world seems nought but dross;
Sae I maun mourn baith nicht and day
For my lovely Mary, the Maid o’ the Tay.
Strangely enough I quite like this,I can just imagine John Laurie reading this; with facial expressions and all. I also wonder if this could have been a first love of the great man, before he met Jean?
I like this passage:
Not really that modest, is she?
We might also note that McGonagall had a daughter called Mary, which sheds an interesting dimension on Dan’s “first love” theory. I wonder what poor Jean thought of that?
I often wonder about William and his supposedly pious air,there is another poem about a lassie with black hair I think;but not to sure of the name. He seems to have had a roving eye while giving the impression of his piousness. It seems although he denounced the strong drink, Jean and is daughter were not averse to its lures.