Thomas Pringle: Collected Lyrics
02 / 2
Public-domain lyrics

Maid of my Heart

Thomas Pringle

“Maid of my Heart” as printed in The Book of Scottish Song (1843).

Thomas Pringle: 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

Maid of my heart—a long farewell!

The bark is launch'd, the billows swell,

And the vernal gales are blowing free,

To bear me far from love and thee!

I hate Ambition's haughty name,

And the heartless pride of Wealth and Fame,

Yet now I haste through Ocean's roar

To woo them on a distant shore.

Can pain or peril bring relief

To him who bears a darker grief?

Can absence calm this feverish thrill?

—Ah, no:—for thou wilt haunt me still!

Thy artless grace, thy open truth,

Thy form that breath'd of love and youth,

Thy voice by Nature fram'd to suit

The tone of Love's enchanted lute!

Thy dimpling cheek and deep-blue eye,

Where tender thought and feeling lie!

Thine eyelid like the evening cloud

That comes the star of love to shroud!

Each witchery of soul and sense,

Enshrin'd in angel innocence,

Combin'd to frame the fatal spell—

That blest—and broke my heart—Farewell!

Credits

Written by Thomas Pringle

Words by Thomas Pringle. 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, “Maid of my Heart”

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.
Keep tracing

More from Thomas Pringle: Collected Lyrics.

01Love's ConstancyPublic-domain lyrics