| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
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| Robert Burns. 1759–1796 |
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| 493. Mary Morison |
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| O MARY, at thy window be, | |
| It is the wish'd, the trysted hour! | |
| Those smiles and glances let me see, | |
| That make the miser's treasure poor: | |
| How blythely wad I bide the stour | 5 |
| A weary slave frae sun to sun, | |
| Could I the rich reward secure, | |
| The lovely Mary Morison! | |
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| Yestreen, when to the trembling string | |
| The dance gaed thro' the lighted ha', | 10 |
| To thee my fancy took its wing, | |
| I sat, but neither heard nor saw: | |
| Tho' this was fair, and that was braw, | |
| And yon the toast of a' the town, | |
| I sigh'd, and said amang them a', | 15 |
| 'Ye arena Mary Morison.' | |
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| O Mary, canst thou wreck his peace, | |
| Wha for thy sake wad gladly die? | |
| Or canst thou break that heart of his, | |
| Whase only faut is loving thee? | 20 |
| If love for love thou wiltna gie, | |
| At least be pity to me shown; | |
| A thought ungentle canna be | |
| The thought o' Mary Morison. | |
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GLOSS: stour] dust, turmoil. |
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