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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WHEN THE KYE CAME HOME by JAMES HOGG

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: COME ALL YE JOLLY SHEPHERDS
Last Line: WHEN THE KYE COMES HAME!
Subject(s): LOVE;
COME, all ye jolly shepherds
That whistle through the glen,
I'll tell ye of a secret
That courtiers dinna ken:
What is the greatest bliss
That the tongue o' man can name?
'T is to woo a bonny lassie
When the kye comes hame!
When the kye comes hame,
When the kye comes hame,
'Tween the gloaming and the mirk,
When the kye comes hame!
'T is not beneath the coronet,
Nor canopy of state,
'T is not on couch of velvet,
Nor arbor of the great, --
'T is beneath the spreading birk,
In the glen without the name,
Wi' a bonny, bonny lassie,
When the kye comes hame!
When the kye comes hame, etc.
There the blackbird bigs his nest
For the mate he loes to see,
And on the topmost bough,
O, a happy bird is he;
Where he pours his melting ditty,
And love is a' the theme,
And he'll woo his bonny lassie
When the kye comes hame!
When the kye comes hame, etc.
When the blewart bears a pearl,
And the daisy turns a pea,
And the bonny lucken gowan
Has fauldit up her ee,
Then the laverock frae the blue lift
Doops down, an' thinks nae shame
To woo his bonny lassie
When the kye comes hame!
When the kye comes hame, etc.
See yonder pawkie shepherd,
That lingers on the hill,
His ewes are in the fauld,
An' his lambs are lying still;
Yet he downa gang to bed,
For his heart is in a flame,
To meet his bonny lassie
When the kye comes hame!
When the kye comes hame, etc.
When the little wee bit heart
Rises high in the breast,
An' the little wee bit starn
Rises red in the east,
O there's a joy sae dear,
That the heart can hardly frame,
Wi' a bonny, bonny lassie,
When the kye comes hame!
When the kye comes hame, etc.
Then since all nature joins
In this love without alloy,
O, wha was prove a traitor
To Nature's dearest joy?
O, wha wad choose a crown,
Wi' its perils and its fame,
And miss his bonny lassie
When the kye comes hame,
When the kye comes hame!
'Tween the gloaming and the mirk,
When the kye comes hame!


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