I canna come ilka day to woo

Now bank and brae are clothed in green,
  And scattered cowslips sweetly spring;
By Girvan's fairy haunted stream
  The birdies flit on wanton wing.
To Cassills' banks when ev'ning fa's,
  There with my Mary let me flee,
There catch her ilka glance of love,
  The bonie blink o' Mary's e'e.

The man wha boasts o' warld's wealth,
  Is aften laird o' meikle care;
But Mary she is a' my ain,
  Ah, Fortune canna gie me mair!
Then let me range by Cassills' banks,
  Wi' her the lassie dear to me,
And catch her ilka glance o' love,
  The bonie blink o' Mary's e'e.

Translation(s): FRE

List of language codes

Glossary

Brae = steep or sloping bank of a river
Ilka = every
Blink = twinkle
Meikle = much

Submitted by Ferdinando Albeggiani

The text shown is a variant of another text.

It is based on

• a text in Scottish (Scots) by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Song. Now bank and brae are claith'd in green" GER
• Go to the text.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

• by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "I canna come ilka day to woo", Hob. XXXIa:140bis, JHW. XXXII/3 no. 242. [voice and piano] [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , title unknown, copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website: 2009-07-14.
Last modified: 2014-10-23 13:07:00
Line count: 16
Word count: 103

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