Daniel Weir: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Love is timid

Daniel Weir

“Love is timid” as printed in The Book of Scottish Song (1843).

Daniel Weir: Collected Lyrics Text 2 1843 · historical text
Public domainScottish songFolk
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Book of Scottish Song, edited by Alexander Whitelaw, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

Love is timid, Love is shy,

Can you tell me, tell me why?

Ah! tell me, why true love should be

Afraid to meet the kindly smile

Of him she loves, from him would flee,

Yet thinks upon him all the while?

Can you tell me, tell me why

Love is timid, Love is shy?

Love is timid, Love is shy,

Can you tell me, tell me why?

True love, they say, delights to dwell

In some sequester'd lonely bower;

With him she loves where none can tell,

Her tender look in passion's hour.

Can you tell me, tell me why

Love is timid, Love is shy?

Love is timid, Love is shy,

Can you tell me, tell me why

Love, like the lonely nightingale,

Will pour her heart when all is lone;

Nor will repeat, amidst the vale,

Her notes to any but to one.

Can you tell me, tell me why

Love is timid, Love is shy?

Credits

Written by Daniel Weir

Words by Daniel Weir. Historical text published in The Book of Scottish Song (1843); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Book of Scottish Song (1843), edited by Alexander Whitelaw, “Love is timid”

Every contribution in this 1843 anthology predates modern copyright terms by more than a century; any contributor died at least 130 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide (life+70 terms expired no later than 2020).

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-12. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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