Parnassus Hill

O WERE I ON PARNASSUS HILL.
Tune--"_My love is lost to me._"
[The poet welcomed with this exquisite song his wife to Nithsdale: the
air is one of Oswald's.]

I.
    O, were I on Parnassus' hill!
    Or had of Helicon my fill;
    That I might catch poetic skill,
      To sing how dear I love thee.
    But Nith maun be my Muse's well;
    My Muse maun be thy bonnie sel':
    On Corsincon I'll glow'r and spell,
      And write how dear I love thee.
II.
    Then come, sweet Muse, inspire my lay!
    For a' the lee-lang simmer's day
    I coudna sing, I coudna say,
      How much, how dear, I love thee.
    I see thee dancing o'er the green,
    Thy waist sae jimp, thy limbs sae clean,
    Thy tempting lips, thy roguish een--
      By heaven and earth I love thee!
III.
    By night, by day, a-field, at hame,
    The thoughts o' thee my breast inflame;
    And aye I muse and sing thy name--
      I only live to love thee.
    Tho' I were doom'd to wander on
    Beyond the sea, beyond the sun,
    Till my last weary sand was run;
      Till then--and then I love thee.