Lady Maisie's Bairn

LADY MAISIE'S BAIRN

"Gin ye winna cease for the pity of him,O cease for the pity of me;There was never bairn born of a womanBetween the sea-wind and the sea,There was never bairn born of a womanThat was born so bitterly."

The ship drove hard upon the wind,I wot it drove full mightily;But the fair gold sides upon the shipThey were bursten with the sea.

"O I am sae fain for you, Lord John,Gin ye be no sae fain;How shall I bear wi' my body,It is sae full of pain?

"O I am sae fain of your body,Ye are no sae fain of me;"But the sails are riven wi' the windAnd the sides are full of sea.

O when she saw the sails riven,The sair pain bowed her back;But when she saw the sides bursten,I wot her very heart brak.

The wind waxed in the sea between,The rain waxed in the land;Lord John was happéd wi' saut sea-faem,Lady Maisie wi' sea-sand;And the little bairn between them twaThat was to her right hand.

The rain rains sair on DuriesdykeTo the land side and the sea;There was never bairn born of a womanThat was born mair bitterly.