ALISON Cockburn (nee Rutherford), 1712-1794, was a poet and song-writer, admired by Burns, friendly with Hume, and a lively hostess in Edinburgh literary circles.
This version of the Flodden lament is less well known than that of Jean Elliot (1727-1805) but is also powerful.
THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST
I've seen the smiling of Fortune beguiling,
I've tasted her favours, and felt her decay:
Sweet is her blessing , and kind her caressing;
But soon it is fled - it is fled far away.
I've seen the Forest adorned the foremost
With flowers of the fairest - most pleasant and gay:
Full sweet was their blooming - their scent the air perfuming;
But now they are wither'd an a' wede away.
I've seen the morning with gold the hills adorning,
And the red tempest storming before parting day:
I've seen Tweed's silver streams, glittering in the sunny beams,
Grow drumly and dark as they roll'd on their way.
O fickle Fortune! Why this cruel sporting?
Why thus perplex us poor sons of a day?
Thy frowns cannot fear me, thy smiles cannot cheer me -
Since the Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away.
Wede awa=carried off by death
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