Traditional: Collected Lyrics
58 / 291
Public-domain lyrics

Bonnie Jean 2

Traditional

“Bonnie Jean 2” as printed in The Book of Scottish Song (1843).

Traditional: Collected Lyrics Text 58 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's goddess, in a myrtle grove,

Said, Cupid, bend thy bow with speed,

Nor let thy shaft at random rove,

For Jeany's haughty heart maun bleed.

The smiling boy with art divine,

From Paphos shot an arrow keen,

Which flew, unerring, to the heart,

And kill'd the pride of bonnie Jean.

Nae mair the nymph, wi' haughty air,

Refuses Willie's kind address;

Her yielding blushes show nae care,

But too much fondness to suppress.

Nae mair the youth is sullen now,

But looks the gayest on the green,

Whilst ev'ry day he spies some new

Surprising charms in bonnie Jean.

A thousand transports crowd his breast,

He moves as light as fleeting wind;

His former sorrows seem a jest,

Now when his Jeany is turn'd kind:

Riches he looks on wi' disdain;

The glorious fields of war look mean;

The cheerful hound and horn give pain,

If absent from his bonnie Jean.

The day he spends in amorous gaze,

Which ev'n in summer shorten'd seems:

When sunk in downs, wi' glad amaze,

He wonders at her in his dreams.

A' charms disclos'd, she looks more bright

Than Troy's fair prize, the Spartan queen;

Wi' breaking day he lifts his sight,

And pants to be wi' bonnie Jean.

Credits

Written by Traditional

Traditional words. 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, “Bonnie Jean 2”

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 Traditional: Collected Lyrics.

01A good old SongPublic-domain lyrics02I canna be fashedPublic-domain lyrics03It's weel it's nae waurPublic-domain lyrics04'Twas na her bonnie blue e'ePublic-domain lyrics