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CONNEL BURN THOU RIPPLING STREAM

By Whitefield Watson Ó

Connel Burn thou rippling stream

Oftimes I see thee in my dream

I fancy I see thee in youth's happy days

Roamping thy glen and gathering Slaes

Oftimes I rambled up the glen

In sunshine's pleasant hours

And listened to the wild birds sing

Among the hazel bowers

I loved to hear the mavis sing

And the linnet pour it's laylt

The bonnie blackbird whistle clear

Upon the primrose brae

It told of nature all around

And boundless joys of spring

Oh how it filled my heart with joy

To hear those wild birds sing

It tells the boundless love of God

In every little flower

The bluebell and the daisy

And the pleasant sunshine shower

Could I recall the happy days

When from care my thoughts were free

When I played about yon burnie side

With childish mirth and glee

When I roved among the heather

Or doon yon flowery lea

Where I pooed the sweet white blossoms

From the bonny hawthorn tree

Those happy days are passed and gone

And I far o'er the sea

But I'll always cherish in my heart

Their greeting sent to me

MEMORIES DEAR

By Whitefield Watson Ó

Well dae I mind when I leeved wi my mither

In a wee thacket hoose at the foot o' the hill

Where I played with my playmates for oors mangst the heather

Gathering the berries oor pooches tae fill

Away up Glen Afton oftimes we would ramble

To gather the wild flowers that grew on the braes

We would jag a oor wee hands pu-in the brambles

And tear a oor claes in climbing the trees

Then back doon the glen for hame we would scamper

Legs worn and weary with frolicksome play

We would sit doon to rest on the banks of the Afton

And listen to the wild birds pour out their lay

How pleasant thy banks a gentle sweet Afton

Where Burns and his Mary they met there at will

But sweeter and dearer than aught to my bosom

Is yon wee thacket hoose at the foot o' the hill

Whitefield Watson was born in New Cumnock in
1862. The 1881 Census records him as an 18 year-old
coal-miner living with his father Joseph Watson,
mother Elizabeth Walker, his younger sisters Susanna
and Catherine and his young brother John at 10
Connelpark, New Cumnock - the Long Row.

He married Jessie Mason in 1884, a near neighbour
of his in 1881, living at 3 Connelpark in 1881 .

His great-granddaughter Jeanne is currently working on
the 'Whitefield Watson Story' and has kindly given
permission to share two of his wonderful poems.
Poems that meant so much to him in his new home of
New Zealand, where he passed away in 1940.