More generally known as Westlin Winds, this early poem-cum-song shows Robert Burns’s delight in both the countryside and in his dalliance with his lover – though that delight definitely does not extend to field sports.
SONG, COMPOSED IN AUGUST
Now westlin winds, and slaught’ring guns
Bring Autumn’s pleasant weather;
The Moorcock springs, on whirring wings,
Amang the blooming heather:
New waving grain, wide o’er the plain,
Delights the weary Farmer;
The moon shines bright, as I rove at night
To muse upon my Charmer.
~
The Pairtrick lo’es the fruitfu’ fells;
The Plover lo’es the mountains;
The Woodcock haunts the lanely dells
The soaring Hern the fountains:
Thro’ lofty groves, the Cushat roves,
The path o’ man to shun it;
The hazel bush o’erhangs the Thrush,
The spreading thorn the Linnet.
~
Thus ev’ry kind their pleasure find,
The savage and the tender;
Some social join, and leagues combine;
Some solitary wander:
Avaunt, away! the cruel sway
Tyrannic man’s dominion;
The Sportsman’s joy, the murd’ring cry,
The flutt’ring gory pinion!
~
But Peggy dear, the ev’ning’s clear,
Thick flies the skimming Swallow;
The sky is blue, the fields in view,
All fading-green and yellow:
Come let us stray our gladsome way,
And view the charms o’ Nature;
The rustling corn, the fruited thorn,
And ilka happy creature…
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