First When Maggy Was My Care (Poem by Robert Burns)

First When Maggy Was My Care (1)

By Robert Burns

First when Maggy was my care,

Heaven, I thought, was in her air;

Now we’re married — spier nae mair —

    Whistle o’er the lave o’t. —

Meg was meek, and Meg was mild,

Bonnie Meg was nature’s child;

Wiser men than me’s beguil’d —

    Whistle o’er the lave o’t.

First When Maggy Was My Care (2)

How we live, my Meg and me,

How we love, and how we ‘gree,

I care na by how few may see;

    Whistle o’er the lave o’t. —

Wha I wish were maggot’s meat,

Dish’d up in her winding sheet,

I could write — but Meg maun see’t —

    Whistle o’er the lave o’t.

Note:

The air of this song was composed by John Bruce, of Dumfries, musician: the words, though originating in an olden strain, are wholly by Burns, and right bitter ones they are. The words and air are in the Museum.