The flowers of the forest

I've seen the smiling of Fortune beguiling,

I've tasted her pleasures and found them decay:

Sweet was her blessing, and kind her caressing,

But now they are fled, they are fled far away.

I've seen the forest adorn'd the foremost,

Wi' flowers o' the fairest, baith pleasant and gay:

Sae bonny was their blooming, their scent the air perfuming,

But now they are wither'd and a'wede away.

I've seen the morning with gold the hills adorning,

And loud tempests storming before middle day;

I've seen Tweed's silver streams, glitt'ring in the sunny beams,

Grow drumlie 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?

Nae mair thy frowns will fear me, nae mair thy smile will cheer me,

Since the Flowers o' the Forest are a'wede away.