93 Rare Willy Drowned in Yarrow
I
‘Willy’s rare, and Willy’s fair,
And Willy’s wondrous bonny;
And Willy heght578 to marry me,
Gin e’er he marryd ony.
II
‘Yestreen I made my bed fu’ braid,
The night I’ll make it narrow,
For a’ the live-long winter’s night
I lie twin’d579 of my marrow580.
III
‘O came you by yon water-side?
Pu’d you the rose or lilly?
Or came you by yon meadow green?
Or saw you my sweet Willy?’
IV
She sought him east, she sought him west,
She sought him braid and narrow;
Sine, in the clifting581 of a craig,
She found him drown’d in Yarrow.
Footnotes
578 heght = promised.
579 twin’d = deprived.
580 marrow = mate.
581 clifting = cleft.