Along with those which
follow, the song appeared in the "Forest Minstrel." The heroine was
Julia Curtis, a maiden in Galloway, to whom Cunningham was early
attached. She is also celebrated by the poet in the "Braes of Ballahun,"
and her early demise is lamented in the tender stanzas of "Julia's
Grave." The latter composition first appeared in the _Scots Magazine_
for 1807, p. 448.
THE BRAES OF BALLAHUN.[108]
TUNE--_"Roslin Castle."_
Now smiling summer's balmy breeze,
Soft whispering, fans the leafy trees;
The linnet greets the rosy morn,
Sweet in yon fragrant flowery thorn;
The bee hums round the woodbine bower,
Collecting sweets from every flower;
And pure the crystal streamlets run
Among the braes of Ballahun.
Oh, blissful days, for ever fled,
When wand'ring wild, as fancy led,
I ranged the bushy bosom'd glen,
The scroggie shaw, the rugged linn,
And mark'd each blooming hawthorn bush,
Where nestling sat the speckled thrush;
Or, careless roaming, wander'd on
Among the braes of Ballahun.
Why starts the tear, why bursts the sigh,
When hills and dales rebound with joy?
The flowery glen and lilied lea,
In vain display their charms to me.
I joyless roam the heathy waste,
To soothe this sad, this troubled breast;
And seek the haunts of men to shun,
Among the braes of Ballahun.
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