Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.

Coquet Water

Bonnie Coquet-side

By Robert White

O MARY, look how sweetly spring

Revives ilk opening flower:

Here in this brake, where lintwhites sing,

I ’ll form a simmer bower,

Beneath whose shade, in sultry days,

We ’ll see the burnies glide,

And sportive lambkins deck the braes,

On bonnie Coquet-side.

At morn, I ’ll mark how melting shine

Thy een sae deeply blue;

Or, tempted thereby, press to mine

Thy lips o’ rosy hue.

To breathe the halesome air, we ’ll rove

Amang the hazels wide,

And rest betimes, to speak o’ love,

By bonnie Coquet-side.

The wild-rose pure, that scents the gale,

Shall grace thy bosom fair;

The violet dark, and cowslip pale,

I ’ll pu’ to wreathe thy hair.

O’er shelving banks or wimpling streams

Thy gracefu’ steps I ’ll guide

To spots where nature loveliest seems

On bonnie Coquet-side.

And when we view ilk furzy dale

Where hang the dews o’ morn,

Ilk winding, deep, romantic vale,

Ilk snaw-white blossomed thorn,

Frae every charm I ’ll turn to thee,

And think my winsome bride

Mair sweet than aught that meets my ee

By bonnie Coquet-side.