Waly, Waly- (Edin) c.1726 Allan Ramsay
["Waly, Waly, Gin Love Be Bony" from Allan Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany, the second volume, published before 1727; here from the Dublin edition of 1729, p. 176. Ramsay (1686-1758) resided in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Here's the identifying stanza as found in Waly, Waly:
3 Waly, waly! but love be bony
A little time, while it is new;
But when 't is auld, it waxeth cauld,
And fades away like morning dew.
It's also found in Jamie Douglas, Child J, from Motherwell about 1824.
R. Matteson 2017]
"Waly, Waly, Gin Love Be Bony" Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany.
1 O Waly, waly up the bank!
And waly, waly, down the brae!
And waly, waly yon burn-side,
Where I and my love wont to gae!
2 I leand my back unto an aik,
I thought it was a trusty tree;
But first it bowd, and syne it brak,
Sae my true-love did lightly me.
3 Waly, waly! but love be bony
A little time, while it is new;
But when 't is auld, it waxeth cauld,
And fades away like morning dew.
4 O wherefore shoud I busk my head?
Or wherf ore shoud I kame my hair?
For my true-love has me forsook,
And says he'll never love me mair.
5 Now Arthur-Seat shall be my bed,
The sheets shall neer be fyl'd by me;
Saint Anton's well shall be my drink,
Since my true-love has forsaken me.
6 Martinmas wind, when wilt thou blaw,
And shake the green leaves off the tree?
gentle death, when wilt thou come?
For of my life I am weary.
7 'T is not the frost that freezes fell,
Nor blawing snaw's inclemency;
'T is not sic cauld that makes me cry,
But my love's heart grown cauld to me.
8 When we came in by Glasgow town,
We were a comely sight to see;
My love was cled in the black velvet,
And I my sell in cramasie.
9 But had I wist, before I kissd,
That love had been sae ill to win,
I'd lockd my heart in a case of gold,
And pin'd it with a silver pin.
10 Oh, oh, if my young babe were born,
And set upon the nurse's knee,
And I my sell were dead and gane!
For a maid again I'll never be.