No More Learning

TO MARY IN HEAVEN.

Tune--"_Death of Captain Cook. _"

[This sublime and affecting Ode was composed by Burns in one of his
fits of melancholy, on the anniversary of Highland Mary's death. All
the day he had been thoughtful, and at evening he went out, threw
himself down by the side of one of his corn-ricks, and with his eyes
fixed on "a bright, particular star," was found by his wife, who with
difficulty brought him in from the chill midnight air. The song was
already composed, and he had only to commit it to paper. It first
appeared in the Museum. ]


I.

Thou lingering star, with less'ning ray,
That lov'st to greet the early morn,
Again thou usherest in the day
My Mary from my soul was torn.
O Mary! dear departed shade!
Where is thy place of blissful rest?
Seest thou thy lover lowly laid?
Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast?

II.

That sacred hour can I forget,
Can I forget the hallow'd grove,
Where by the winding Ayr we met,
To live one day of parting love!
Eternity cannot efface
Those records dear of transports past;
Thy image at our last embrace;
Ah! little thought we 'twas our last!

III.

Ayr, gurgling, kiss'd his pebbled shore,
O'erhung with wild woods, thick'ning green;
The fragrant birch, and hawthorn, hoar,
Twin'd am'rous round the raptured scene;
The flow'rs sprang wanton to be prest,
The birds sang love on every spray--
Till too, too soon, the glowing west
Proclaim'd the speed of winged day.

IV.

Still o'er these scenes my mem'ry wakes,
And fondly broods with miser care!
Time but th' impression stronger makes,
As streams their channels deeper wear.
My Mary, dear departed shade!
Where is thy place of blissful rest?
Seest thou thy lover lowly laid?
Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast?

* * * * *




LXXXVI.

EPPIE ADAIR.

Tune--"_My Eppie. _"

["This song," says Sir Harris Nicolas, "which has been ascribed to
Burns by some of his editors, is in the Musical Museum without any
name. " It is partly an old strain, corrected by Burns: he communicated
it to the Museum.