The HyperTexts

Sonny Kerr

Sonny Kerr is an amateur Irish poet who translates poems from the old Gaelic dialects, mainly the poems of Robert Burns. In the past, he wrote poems and songs, but never had anything published.



Afton Water

Flow gently sweet Afton, among the green hills.
Flow gently, as I sing you a song of my ills.
My Mary's asleep by your murmuring stream,
Flow gently sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.
 
You stock dove whose echo resounds through the glen,
You wild, whistling blackbirds in that thorny den,
You crows that are cawing in beeches above,
I charge you disturb not my slumbering Love.
 
How lofty, sweet Afton, your neighbouring hills
Are marked with the courses of clear winding rills.
There daily I wander as noon rises high,
My flock and my sweet Mary's cot in my eye.
 
How pleasant your banks and green valleys below,
Where wild in the woodlands the primroses grow;
There often as evening weeps over the lea,
The sweet-scented birch shades my Mary and me.
 
Your crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides
And winds by the cot where my Mary resides.
Your waters flow by her, where, stilly she lies,
All joy and all loving now gone from her eyes.
 
Your waters flow by her where she is at rest.
A hundred wild-flowers grow over her breast.
My Mary's asleep by your murmuring stream,
Flow gently sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.

(c) Sonny Kerr



One Fond Kiss

One fond kiss, and then we sever;
One farewell and gone forever!
Loving thoughts of you may save me
From this hardship that life gave me.
 
Who shall say that fortune grieves him
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, no cheerful twinkle lights me.
Dark despair around benights me.
 
I'll never blame my partial fancy
No one can resist my Nancy;
For to see her is to love her
And to love no-one above her.
 
Had we never kissed so kindly,
Had we never loved so blindly,
Never met or never parted
We would not be broken-hearted.
 
Fair you well my first and fairest!
Ours was love that was the rarest!
Yours be every joy and treasure
Peace, enjoyment, love and pleasure!
 
One fond kiss, and then we sever
One farewell, alas! forever!
Loving thoughts of you may save me
From this hardship that life gave me.

(c) Sonny Kerr



Highland Mary
 
Beside the banks and streams around 
The castle of Montgomery,
Green are the woods, where birds abound
When all is warm and summery.
One day beneath a summer sky,
When all was light and airy;
T'was there I spoke my last good-bye
To my sweet Highland Mary.
 
How sweetly bloomed the great, green tree,
Where sweetly sang the birds.
As underneath she lay with me
And listened to these words:
"As beautiful as chaffinch wings,
Or singing cock canary.
As dear to me, as gold to kings
Are you, my Highland Mary."
 
With many a soft and loving kiss
Our parting was so tender
Before she sailed to that abyss
Where nothing can offend her
For Death's cold eye can intercept 
The one who is not wary
And my sad eyes have wept and wept
For her, my Highland Mary.
 
Her rosy lips are cold and pale
Where once I laid my kisses
And my sad heart cannot but fail
To weep for her it misses.
For now I walk a sullen Earth
As lonely as a prairie.
My life was hers, and all it's worth—
I miss my Highland Mary.
 
(c) Sonny Kerr



It Was Upon a Lammas Night
 
It was upon an August night
When fields of corn are many,
Beneath the moon's unclouded light,
I held away to Annie.
The time flew by with careless heed,
And 'tween the dusk and morn:
With small persuasion she agreed,
To walk me through the corn.
 
The sky was blue, the wind was still,
The moon was shining clearly;
I set her down with right good will
And loved her very dearly.
For now the corn was almost grown
This time that comes but yearly.
Hers was the sweetest love I'd known,
I said to her, sincerely.
 
I locked her in my fond embrace;
Out hearts were beating madly;
I saw the joy upon her face
And wanted her so badly.
Beneath the moon and stars so bright
But by the corn concealed,
We truly blessed that happy night
Out in the barley field.
 
I have wished my friends good health
When I've been merry drinking.
I have been eager gaining wealth;
I have been happy thinking;
Many ladies I've escorted
By light of moon or sun;
When all is done and sorted  
That night them all outshone.

In the soothing August starlight,
When fields of corn are many.
I will recall that happy night
Out in the fields with Annie.

(c) Sonny Kerr



Mary Morison

Oh Mary at your window be,
Now is the wished, the longed-for hour!
That smile, those glances let me see,
That makes the miser's treasure poor.
How keenly would I share my store
Of love with you from sun to sun,
And I, that rich reward secure,
My lovely Mary Morison.
 
Last night, when to the trembling string
The dance filled up the lighted hall,
To you my fancy took its wing.
I stood alone beside the wall.
I saw those beauties at the ball
As graceful as a floating swan,
But I would trade them, one or all 
For you my Mary Morison.
 
Oh Mary, will you think on this?
The only girl that I would woo!
Will you deny him your sweet kiss,
Whose only fault is loving you?
If love for love you cannot give,
Then one last kiss, please place upon
My tear-stained cheek, if I must live
Without you, Mary Morison.
 
(c) Sonny Kerr

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