Read "The Bonny, Bonny Dell" by George MacDonald online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Oh! the bonny, bonny dell, whaur the yorlin sings, / Wi' a clip o' the sunshine atween his wings; / Whaur the birks are a' straikit wi' fair munelicht, / And the brume hings its lamps by day and by nicht; / Whaur the burnie comes trottin ower shingle and stane / Liltin bonny havers til 'tsel its lane; / And the sliddery troot wi' ae soop o' its tail / Is ahint the green weed's dark swingin veil!
Oh, the bonny, bonny dell, whaur I sang as I saw / The yorlin, the brume, and the burnie, and a'!
Oh! the bonny, bonny dell, whaur the primroses won, / Luikin oot o' their leaves like wee sons o' the sun; / Whaur the wild roses hing like flickers o' flame, / And fa' at the touch wi' a dainty shame; / Whaur the bee swings ower the white-clovery sod, / And the butterfly flits like a stray thoucht o' God; / Whaur, like arrow shot frae life's unseen bow, / The dragon-fly burns the sunlicht throu!
Oh, the bonny, bonny dell, whaur I sang to see / The rose and the primrose, the draigon and bee!
Oh! the bonny, bonny dell, whaur the mune luiks doon / As gien she war hearin a soughless tune, / Whan the flooers and the birdies are a' asleep, / And the verra burnie gangs creepy-creep; / Whaur the corn-craik craiks i' the lang-heidit rye, / And the nicht is the safter for his rouch cry; / Whaur the win' wud fain lie doon on the slope, / And the gloamin waukens the high-reachin hope!
Oh, the bonny, bonny dell, whaur, silent, I felt / The mune and the darkness baith into me melt!
Oh! the bonny, bonny dell, whaur the sun luiks in / Sayin, "Here awa, there awa, hand awa, Sin!"
Sayin darkness and sorrow a' work for the licht, / And the will o' God was the hert o' the nicht; / Whaur the laverock hings hie, on his ain sang borne, / Wi' bird-shout and tirralee hailin the morn; / Whaur my hert ran ower wi' the lusome bliss / That, come winter, come weather, nocht gaed amiss!
Oh, the bonny, bonny dell, whaur the sun luikit in / Sayin, "Here awa, there awa, hand awa, Sin!"
Oh! the bonny, bonny dell, whaur aft I wud lie, / Wi' Jeanie aside me sae sweet and sae shy; / Whaur the starry gowans wi' rose-dippit tips / War as white as her cheek and as reid as her lips; / Whaur she spread her gowd hert till she saw that I saw, / Syne fauldit it up and gied me it a'; / Whaur o' sunlicht and munelicht she was the queen, / For baith war but middlin withoot my Jean!
Oh, the bonny, bonny dell, whaur aft I wud lie, / Wi' Jeanie aside me sae sweet and sae shy!
Oh! the bonny, bonny dell, whaur the kirkyard lies / A' day and a' nicht luikin up to the skies; / Whaur the sheep wauken up i' the simmer nicht, / Tak a bite and lie doon, and await the licht; / Whaur the psalms roll ower the grassy heaps; / Whaur the win' comes and moans, and the rain comes and weeps; / Whaur my Jeanie's no lyin in a' the lair, / For she's up and awa up the angels' stair!
Oh, the bonny, bonny dell, whaur the kirkyard lies, / Whaur the stars luik doon, and the nicht-wind sighs!