Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Lady Mary Ann was a flower in the dew, Sweet was its smell and bonie was its hue, And the longer it blossom’d the sweeter it grew, For the lily in the bud will be bonier yet.

The music of thy voice I heard, Nor wist while it enslav’d me; I saw thine eyes, yet nothing fear’d, Till fears no more had sav’d me: Th’ unwary sailor thus, aghast The wheeling...

Burns’ poetry falls into two main groups: English and Scottish. His English poems are, for the most part, inferior specimens of conventional eighteenth-century verse. But in Sco...

Here awa, there awa, wandering Willie, Now tired with wandering, haud awa hame; Come to my bosom, my ae only dearie, And tell me thou bring’st me my Willie the same. Loud blew t...

Why am I loth to leave this earthly scene? Have I so found it full of pleasing charms? Some drops of joy with draughts of ill between— Some gleams of sunshine ’mid renewing stor...

It’s tauld he was a sodger bred, And ane wad rather fa’n than fled; But now he’s quat the spurtle-blade, And dog-skin wallet, And taen the—Antiquarian trade, I think they call it.

The wind blew hollow frae the hills, By fits the sun’s departing beam Look’d on the fading yellow woods, That wav’d o’er Lugar’s winding stream: Beneath a craigy steep, a Bard,...

She made the bed baith large and wide, Wi’ twa white hands she spread it doun; She put the cup to her rosy lips, And drank—“Young man, now sleep ye soun’.”

Daughter of Chaos’ doting years, Nurse of ten thousand hopes and fears, Whether thy airy, insubstantial shade (The rights of sepulture now duly paid) Spread abroad its hideous f...

But the houlet cry’d frau the castle wa’, The blitter frae the boggie; The tod reply’d upon the hill, I trembled for my Hoggie. When day did daw, and cocks did craw, The morning...

How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below, Where, wild in the woodlands, the primroses blow; There oft, as mild Ev’ning weeps over the lea, The sweet-scented birk shades my...

When day, expiring in the west, The curtain draws o’ Nature’s rest, I flee to his arms I loe’ the best, And that’s my ain dear Davie. Meet me on, &c.

Now, for my friends’ and brethren’s sakes, And for my dear-lov’d Land o’ Cakes, I pray with holy fire: Lord, send a rough-shod troop o’ Hell O’er a’ wad Scotland buy or sell, To...

And knapsack a’ in order; His doxy lay within his arm; Wi’ usquebae an’ blankets warm She blinkit on her sodger; An’ aye he gies the tozie drab The tither skelpin’ kiss, While s...

O, how that name inspires my style! The words come skelpin, rank an’ file, Amaist before I ken! The ready measure rins as fine, As Phoebus an’ the famous Nine Were glowrin owre...

It was a’ for our rightfu’ King We left fair Scotland’s strand; It was a’ for our rightfu’ King We e’er saw Irish land, my dear, We e’er saw Irish land.

But Davie, lad, I’m red ye’re glaikit; I’m tauld the muse ye hae negleckit; An, gif it’s sae, ye sud by lickit Until ye fyke; Sic haun’s as you sud ne’er be faikit, Be hain’t wh...

Wow, but your letter made me vauntie! And are ye hale, and weel and cantie? I ken’d it still, your wee bit jauntie Wad bring ye to: Lord send you aye as weel’s I want ye! And th...

Then Montague, an’ Guilford too, Began to fear, a fa’, man; And Sackville dour, wha stood the stour, The German chief to thraw, man: For Paddy Burke, like ony Turk, Nae mercy ha...

The muse, nae poet ever fand her, Till by himsel he learn’d to wander, Adown some trottin burn’s meander, An’ no think lang: O sweet to stray, an’ pensive ponder A heart-felt sang!

Ye, lastly, bonie blossoms a’, Ye royal lasses dainty, Heav’n mak you guid as well as braw, An’ gie you lads a-plenty! But sneer na British boys awa! For kings are unco scant ay...

His Country’s Saviour,^4 mark him well! Bold Richardton’s heroic swell;^5 The chief, on Sark who glorious fell,^6 In high command; And he whom ruthless fates expel His native land.

What ails ye now, ye lousie bitch To thresh my back at sic a pitch? Losh, man! hae mercy wi’ your natch, Your bodkin’s bauld; I didna suffer half sae much Frae Daddie Auld.

The heather was blooming, the meadows were mawn, Our lads gaed a-hunting ae day at the dawn, O’er moors and o’er mosses and mony a glen, At length they discover’d a bonie moor-hen.

Let lofty firs, and ashes cool, My lowly banks o’erspread, And view, deep-bending in the pool, Their shadow’s wat’ry bed: Let fragrant birks, in woodbines drest, My craggy cliff...

O Thou! who pour’d the patriotic tide, That stream’d thro’ Wallace’s undaunted heart, Who dar’d to nobly stem tyrannic pride, Or nobly die, the second glorious part: (The patrio...

Come winter, with thine angry howl, And raging, bend the naked tree; Thy gloom will soothe my cheerless soul, When nature all is sad like me! And maun I still, &c.

By this, the sun was out of sight, An’ darker gloamin brought the night; The bum-clock humm’d wi’ lazy drone; The kye stood rowtin i’ the loan; When up they gat an’ shook their...

Song—Handsome Nell Song—O Tibbie, I Hae Seen The Day Song—I Dream’d I Lay Song—I Dream’d I Lay Song—In The Character Of A Ruined Farmer Tragic Fragment—All villain as I am The T...

That woefu’ morn be ever mourn’d, Saw him in shooting graith adorn’d, While pointers round impatient burn’d, Frae couples free’d; But och! he gaed and ne’er return’d! Tam Samson...

How long I have liv’d—but how much liv’d in vain, How little of life’s scanty span may remain, What aspects old Time in his progress has worn, What ties cruel Fate, in my bosom...

Then that curst carmagnole, auld Satan, Watches like baudrons by a ratton Our sinfu’ saul to get a claut on, Wi’felon ire; Syne, whip! his tail ye’ll ne’er cast saut on, He’s af...

Dad, daddie, father. Daez’t, dazed. Daffin, larking, fun. Daft, mad, foolish. Dails, planks. Daimen icker, an odd ear of corn. Dam, pent-up water, urine. Damie, dim. of dame. Da...

Rab, rob. Rade, rode. Raep, a rope. Ragweed, ragwort. Raibles, recites by rote. Rair, to roar. Rairin, roaring. Rair’t, roared. Raise, rase, rose. Raize, to excite, anger. Ramfe...