ON Cessnock banks a lassie dwells;
Could I describe her shape and mein;
Our lasses a she far excels,
An she has twa sparkling roguish een.
Shes sweeter than the morning dawn,
When rising Phoebus first is seen,
And dew-drops twinkle oer the lawn;
An she has twa sparkling roguish een.
Shes stately like yon youthful ash,
That grows the cowslip braes between,
And drinks the stream with vigour fresh;
An she has twa sparkling roguish een.
Shes spotless like the flowring thorn,
With flowrs so white and leaves so green,
When purest in the dewy morn;
An she has twa sparkling roguish een.
Her looks are like the vernal May,
When evning Phoebus shines serene,
While birds rejoice on every spray;
An she has twa sparkling roguish een.
Her hair is like the curling mist,
That climbs the mountain-sides at een,
When flowr-reviving rains are past;
An she has twa sparkling roguish een.
Her foreheads like the showry bow,
When gleaming sunbeams intervene
And gild the distant mountains brow;
An she has twa sparkling roguish een.
Her cheeks are like yon crimson gem,
The pride of all the flowery scene,
Just opening on its thorny stem;
An she has twa sparkling roguish een.
Her bosoms like the nightly snow,
When pale the morning rises keen,
While hid the murmring streamlets flow;
An she has twa sparkling roguish een.
Her lips are like yon cherries ripe,
That sunny walls from Boreas screen;
They tempt the taste and charm the sight;
An she has twa sparkling roguish een.
Her teeth are like a flock of sheep,
With fleeces newly washen clean,
That slowly mount the rising steep;
An she has twa sparkling roguish een.
Her breath is like the fragrant breeze,
That gently stirs the blossomd bean,
When Phoebus sinks behind the seas;
An she has twa sparkling roguish een.
Her voice is like the evning thrush,
That sings on Cessnock banks unseen,
While his mate sits nestling in the bush;
An she has twa sparkling roguish een.
But its not her air, her form, her face,
Tho matching beautys fabled queen;
Tis the mind that shines in evry grace,
An chiefly in her roguish een.
Note 1. The lass is identified as Ellison Begbie, a servant wench, daughter of a farmer.Lang. [back]