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  • The Invitation
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The Invitation

Sir Alexander Gray

That you’re my ain true love,
Weel can you see.
Come in the nicht, come in the nicht;
Whisper: ‘It’s me.’

Juist come straicht ben, my lad,
When it stricks twel’.
Father sleeps, mither sleeps;
I’m by mysel’.

Tirl at the chawmer door;
Lift the sneck high.
Father says: ‘What a wind’
Mither says: ‘Ay.’


Sir Alexander Gray

from Arrows: a book of German ballads and folk-songs attempted in Scots (Grant & Murray, 1932)

Reproduced by permission of the Estate of Sir Alexander Gray

Tags:

Love & Romance Scots Scots Translations wooing and courtship
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Sir Alexander Gray1882 - 1968

A civil servant and Professor of Political Economy, Sir Alexander Gray's reputation abides not only in his own field, but as a Scots language poet and the author of some of the most-quoted lines in modern Scottish poetry.
More about Sir Alexander Gray

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