Walter Graham Blackie: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Her Name

Walter Graham Blackie

“Her Name” as printed in The Book of Scottish Song (1843).

Walter Graham Blackie: Collected Lyrics Text 1 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

Her name! oh, her name would'st thou have me to tell?

Ah no! from this bosom thou reav'st not the spell

Which cheers it at ev'ning and glads it at morn,

Howe'er by life's cares 'tis distracted and torn.

A name which is sunlight and moonlight to me,

I'll breathe 't to the night winds but not unto thee.

That name I shall teach the sweet streamlets to cry,

And list till I hear the glad echoes reply;

And, oft as it rises, the soft scented breeze

Shall waft it away through the tall forest trees;

Till linnets and thrushes, inspir'd by the theme,

Shall sing like the fays only heard when we dream.

What joyous delight, in the calm ev'ning shade,

To hear the lov'd name warbled thus through the glade;

'Twill steal o'er my brain like the warm summer air,

When loaded with perfume of eglantines fair;

I'll dream until even the starlets proclaim

The dear words; but ah, I'll not tall thee her name!

Credits

Written by Walter Graham Blackie

Words by Walter Graham Blackie. 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, “Her Name”

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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