Classic Poem

HE.


Adieu for a while my native green plains,
My nearest relations, and neighbouring swains;
Dear Nelly, frae these I 'd start easily free,
Were minutes not ages while absent frae thee.


SHE.


Then tell me the reason thou dost not obey
The pleading of love, but thus hurries away:
Alake! thou deceiver, o'er plainly I see,
A lover sae roving will never mind me.


HE.


The reason unhappy is owing to fate,
That gave me a being without an estate;
Which lays a necessity now upon me,
To purchase a fortune for pleasure to thee.


SHE.


Small fortune may serve where love has the sway,
Then, Johny, be counsell'd nae langer to stray;
For while thou proves constant in kindness to me,
Contented I 'll ay find a treasure in thee.


HE.


Cease, my dear charmer, else soon I 'll betray
A weakness unmanly, and quickly give way
To fondness, which may prove a ruin to thee,
A pain to us baith, and dishonour to me.

Bear witness ye streams, and witness ye flow'rs,
Bear witness ye watchful invisible pow'rs,
If ever my heart be unfaithful to thee,
May nothing propitious e'er smile upon me.