One of Burns's best known love songs, this was written to Wilhelmina Alexander, sister of the new laird of Ballochmyle.

The original tune is superior to the well-known Victorian setting but technically very difficult. I possess, a treasured gift, Miss Alexander's New Testament.

THE BONY LASS O' BALLOCHMYLE

'Twas even, the dewy fields were green,

On every blade the pearls hang,

The zephyr wantoned round the bean,

And bore its fragrant sweets alang;

In every glen the mavis sang,

All nature listening seemed the while;

Except where greenwood echoes rang

Amang the braes o' Ballochmyle.

With careless step I onward strayed,

My heart rejoiced in nature's joy,

When, musing in a lonely glade,

A maiden fair I chanced to spy:

Her look was like the morning's eye,

Her air like nature's vernal smile,

The lilies' hue and roses' die

Bespoke the Lass o' Ballochmyle.

O if she were a country maid,

And I the happy country swain!

Though sheltered in the lowest shed

That ever rose on Scotia's plain:

Through weary winter's wind and rain,

With joy, with rapture I would toil,

And nightly to my bosom strain

The bony Lass o' Ballochmyle.