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  • A Mither’s Lilt
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A Mither’s Lilt

James Pittendrigh Macgillivray

My bonnie bairn
My bonnie bairn
My bonnie bairn, there’s blessin’s in yer e’e.
An’ O ye hae a dainty mou’, dainty mou’, dainty mou’ –
I wat ye hae the sweetest mou’
That ever kiss’t wi’ me.

A gentleman,
A gentleman,
A gentleman your fader’s said to be:
But O he gart me rue a’, rue a’, rue a’ –
At he’rt he gart me rue a’
Till ye cam’ hame to me.

He does na ken,
He does na ken,
He canna ken the bonnie boy ye be:
Or nyod I think he’d rue a’, rue a’, rue a’ –
For pride o’ you he’d rue a’
That twyn’t his he’rt fae me.

The pleasure o’ ‘t,
The pleasure o’ ‘t,
The pleasure o’ ‘t he canna ken ava:
Ye’re just the dearest nickum O, nickum O, nickum O –
Yer mither’s sweetest nickum O!
An’ worth the wyte o’ ‘t a’.

A bonnie lad,
A bonnie lad,
A bonnie lad I vow ye’ll come to be
For at yer he’rt there’s fire o’ love, fire o’ love, fire o’ love;
An whar there is the fire o’ love
A ferlie fouk may see.


James Pittendrigh Macgillivray

from Bog-Myrtle and Peat Reek (1922)

Tags:

babies lullabies parenthood Scots Scots
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James Pittendrigh Macgillivray1856 - 1938

Sculptor as well as poet, Macgillivray was the King’s Sculptor in Ordinary from 1921. With his lively poetry in the Scots of his native North-East, he was an early proponent of the Scottish Renaissance.
More about James Pittendrigh Macgillivray

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