by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
Their groves o' sweet myrtle
Language: Scottish (Scots)
Their groves o' sweet myrtle let foreign lands reckon, Where bright-beaming summers exalt the perfume, Far dearer to me yon lone glen o' green breckan, Wi' the burn stealing under the lang yellow broom; Far dearer to me yon humble broom bowers, Where the blue-bell and gowan lurk lowly unseen, For there, lightly tripping amang the wild flowers, A listening the linnet, aft wanders my Jean. Tho' rich is the breeze in their gay sunny valleys, And cauld, Caledonia's blast on the wave; Their sweet-scented woodlands that skirt the proud palace, What are they? The haunt o' the tyrant and slave! The slave's spicy forests, and gold-bubbling fountains, The brave Caledonian views wi' disdain: He wanders as free as the wind o'er his mountains, Save love's willing fetters, the chains o' his Jean.
GLOSSARY
Gowan = flower of the daisy, dandelion or hawkweed
Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani
Gowan = flower of the daisy, dandelion or hawkweed
Authorship:
- by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796) [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "Their groves o' sweet myrtle", subtitle: "The humours of Glen", JHW. XXXII/5 no. 408, Hob. XXXIa no. 256. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani
This text was added to the website: 2012-08-13
Line count: 16
Word count: 133