The Prinkin’ Leddie
The Hielan’ lassies are a’ for spinnin’, The Lowlan’ lassies for prinkin’ and pinnin’; My daddie w’u’d chide me, an’ so w’u’d my minnie If I s’u’d bring hame sic a prinkin’ leddie. Now haud your tongue, ye haverin’ coward, For whilst I’m young I’ll go flounced an’ flowered, In lutestring striped like the strings o’ a fiddle, Wi’ gowden girdles aboot my middle. In your Hielan’ glen, where the rain pours steady, Ye’ll be gay an’ glad for a prinkin’ leddie; Where the rocks are all bare an’ the turf is all sodden, An’ lassies gae sad in their homespun an’ hodden. My silks are stiff wi’ patterns o’ siller, I’ve an ermine hood like the hat o’ a miller, I’ve chains o’ coral like rowan berries, An’ a cramoisie mantle that cam’ frae Paris. Ye’ll be glad for the glint o’ its scarlet linin’ When the larks are up an’ the sun is shinin’; When the winds are up an’ ower the heather Your heart’ll be gay wi’ my gowden feather. When the skies are low an’ the earth is frozen, Ye’ll be gay an’ glad for the leddie ye’ve chosen, When ower the snow I go prinkin’ an’ prancin’ In my wee red slippers were made for dancin’. It’s better a leddie like Solomon’s lily Than one that’ll run like a Hielan’ gillie A-linkin’ it ower the leas, my laddie, In a raggedy kilt an’ a belted pladdie!
Elinor Wylie’s other poems:
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