Scottish Songs - Lyrics and Melodies
A B C-D E-G H-I J-L M-N O P-S T U-Z
The Bonie Moor-Hen
Robert Burns, 1787
The heather was blooming, the meadows were mawn,
Our lads gaed a-hunting ae day at the dawn,
O'er moors and o'er mosses and mony a glen,
At length they discover'd a bonie moor-hen.
Chorus
I rede you, beware at the hunting, young men,
Take some on the wing, and some as they spring,
But cannily steal on a bonie moor-hen.
2. Sweet-brushing the dew from the brown heather bells
Her colours betray'd her on yon mossy fells;
Her plumage outlustr'd the pride o' the spring
And O! as she wanton'd sae gay on the wing.
Chorus
3. Auld Phoebus himself, as he peep'd o'er the hill,
In spite at her plumage he tried his skill;
He levell'd his rays where she bask'd on the brae
His rays were outshone, and but mark'd where she lay.
Chorus
4. They hunted the valley, they hunted the hill,
The best of our lads wi' the best o' their skill;
But still as the fairest she sat in their sight,
Then, whirr! she was over, a mile at a flight.
Chorus
Scottish Songs - Lyrics and Melodies
A B C-D E-G H-I J-L M-N O P-S T U-Z
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