George Gordon, Lord Byron

1788-1824

Geoffrey Chaucer, Died 1400
T. B. Macaulay, Born 1800

October the Twenty-fifth

DUNCAN GRAY

Duncan Gray cam here to woo,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't;

On blythe Yule night when we were fou,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't:
Maggie coost her head fu' high,
Look'd asklent and unco skeigh,
Gart poor Duncan stand abeigh;
Ha, ha, the wooing o't!

Duncan fleech'd, and Duncan pray'd;
Meg was deaf as Ailsa Craig;
Duncan sigh'd baith out and in,
Grat his een baith bleer't and blin',
Spak o' lowpin ower a linn !

Time and chance are but a tide,

Slighted love is sair to bide;
"Shall I, like a fool," quoth he,

“For a haughty hizzie dee?

She may gae to France for me!"

How it comes let doctors tell,
Meg grew sick — as he grew well;
Something in her bosom wrings,
For relief a sigh she brings;

And O, her een, they spak sic things!

Duncan was a lad o' grace;
Maggie's was a piteous case;
Duncan couldna be her death,
Swelling pity smoor'd his wrath;

Now they're crouse and canty baith:
Ha, ha, the wooing o't!

Robert Burns

THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE

Come live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dale and field,
And all the craggy mountains yield.

There will we sit upon the rocks
And see the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

There will I make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle.

A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull,
Fair linèd slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold.

A belt of straw and ivy buds
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may
thee move,
Come live with me and be my Love.

Thy silver dishes for thy meat
As precious as the gods do eat,

Shall on an ivory table be

Prepared each day for thee and me.

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May-morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my Love.

Christopher Marlowe