The Fields In View

One evening last week I found myself wandering along a footpath through a field of barley when the words of a song came drifting into my mind. The sky is blue, the fields in view

all fading green and yellow. I knew immediately which song it was and, with a bit of mental delving, I found I had most of the words stored away somewhere. I first heard it sung by Scottish singer Dick Gaughan on his album "Handful Of Earth" in the 1980s. Since then it's been sung by countless others - even the woman who was my line manager at work! It was written by Robbie Burns.

Now Westlin Winds 

or

Song Composed In August

(R Burns)

Now westlin winds and slaughtering guns

Bring autumn's pleasant weather

The moorcock springs on whirring wings

Amang the blooming heather

Now waving grain, wild o'er the plain

Delights the weary farmer

And the moon shines bright when I rove at night

To muse upon my charmer.

The partridge loves the fruitful fells

The plover loves the mountains

The woodcock haunts the lonely dells

The soaring hern the fountains

Through lofty groves the cushat roves

The path of man to shun it

The hazel bush o'erhangs the thrush

The spreading thorn the linnet

Thus every kind their pleasure find

The savage and the tender

Some social join and leagues combine

Some solitary wander

Avaunt away! the cruel sway

Tyrannic man's dominion

The sportsman's joy, the murdering cry

The fluttering gory pinion

But Peggy dear, the evening's clear

Swift flies the skimming swallow

The sky is blue, the fields in view

All fading green and yellow

Come let us stray our gladsome way

And view the charms of nature

The rustling corn, the fruited thorn

And every happy creature

We'll gently walk and sweetly talk

Till the silent moon shines clearly

I'll grasp thy waist and, fondly pressed,

Swear how I love thee dearly

Not vernal showers to budding flowers

Not autumn to the farmer

So dear can be as thou to me

My fair, and lovely charmer.

Burns wrote the song in 1775 when he was just sixteen, for Peggy Thompson, a 13-year-old he'd fallen in love with.

Here's a glossary for those struggling with some of the words:

Westlin = westerly.  Moorcock = the male red grouse, a gamebird.  Amang = among.  Partridge, plover, woodcock, hern (heron), cushat (wood pigeon), thrush and linnet are all birds of various kinds.  Avaunt = go away.  Swift = this is what Gaughan sings though Burns wrote "Thick flies the skimming swallow" unless that's just a mistake that's been copied all over the internet. I also suspect that he sings something other than "Not vernal showers to budding flowers" but I can't make it out.

Take care.