by Robert Burns
He set his Jenny on his knee,
All in his Highland dress; 20
For brawly weel he ken’d the way
To please a bonie lass.
An’ Charlie, &c.
It’s up yon heathery mountain,
An’ down yon scroggie glen, 25
We daur na gang a milking,
For Charlie and his men,
An’ Charlie, &c.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
462.
The Bannocks o’ Bear Meal (Song)
Chorus — Bannocks o’ bear meal,
Bannocks o’ barley,
Here’s to the Highlandman’s
Bannocks o’ barley!
WHA, in a brulyie, will 5
First cry a parley?
Never the lads wi’ the
Bannocks o’ barley,
Bannocks o’ bear meal, &c.
Wha, in his wae days, 10
Were loyal to Charlie?
Wha but the lads wi’ the
Bannocks o’ barley!
Bannocks o’ bear meal, &c.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
463.
The Highland Balou (Song)
HEE balou, my sweet wee Donald,
Picture o’ the great Clanronald;
Brawlie kens our wanton Chief
Wha gat my young Highland thief.
Leeze me on thy bonie craigie, 5
An’ thou live, thou’ll steal a naigie,
Travel the country thro’ and thro’,
And bring hame a Carlisle cow.
Thro’ the Lawlands, o’er the Border,
Weel, my babie, may thou furder! 10
Herry the louns o’ the laigh Countrie,
Syne to the Highlands hame to me.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
464.
The Highland Widow’s Lament
OH I am come to the low Countrie,
Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie!
Without a penny in my purse,
To buy a meal to me.
It was na sae in the Highland hills, 5
Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie!
Nae woman in the Country wide,
Sae happy was as me.
For then I had a score o’kye,
Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! 10
Feeding on you hill sae high,
And giving milk to me.
And there I had three score o’yowes,
Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie!
Skipping on yon bonie knowes, 15
And casting woo’ to me.
I was the happiest of a’ the Clan,
Sair, sair, may I repine;
For Donald was the brawest man,
And Donald he was mine. 20
Till Charlie Stewart cam at last,
Sae far to set us free;
My Donald’s arm was wanted then,
For Scotland and for me.
Their waefu’ fate what need I tell, 25
Right to the wrang did yield;
My Donald and his Country fell,
Upon Culloden field.
Oh I am come to the low Countrie,
Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! 30
Nae woman in the warld wide,
Sae wretched now as me.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
465.
It was a’ for our rightfu’ King (Song)
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. 5
Now a’ is done that men can do,
And a’ is done in vain;
My Love and Native Land fareweel,
For I maun cross the main, my dear,
For I maun cross the main. 10
He turn’d him right and round about,
Upon the Irish shore;
And gae his bridle reins a shake,
With adieu for evermore, my dear,
And adieu for evermore. 15
The soger frae the wars returns,
The sailor frae the main;
But I hae parted frae my Love,
Never to meet again, my dear,
Never to meet again. 20
When day is gane, and night is come,
And a’ folk bound to sleep;
I think on him that’s far awa,
The lee-lang night, and weep, my dear,
The lee-lang night, and weep. 25
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
466.
Ode for General Washington’s Birthday
NO Spartan tube, no Attic shell,
No lyre Æolian I awake;
‘Tis liberty’s bold note I swell,
Thy harp, Columbia, let me take!
See gathering thousands, while I sing, 5
A broken chain exulting bring,
And dash it in a tyrant’s face,
And dare him to his very beard,
And tell him he no more is feared —
No more the despot of Columbia’s race! 10
A tyrant’s proudest insults brav’d,
They shout — a People freed! They hail an Empire saved.
Where is man’s god-like form?
Where is that brow erect and bold —
That eye that can unmov’d behold 15
The wildest rage, the loudest storm
That e’er created fury dared to raise?
Avaunt! thou caitiff, servile, base,
That tremblest at a despot’s nod,
Yet, crouching under the iron rod, 20
Canst laud the hand that struck th’ insulting blow!
Art thou of man’s Imperial line?
Dost boast that countenance divine?
Each skulking feature answers, No!
But come, ye sons of Liberty, 25
Columbia’s offspring, brave as free,
In danger’s hour still flaming in the van,
Ye know, and dare maintain, the Royalty of Man!
Alfred! on thy starry throne,
Surrounded by the tuneful choir, 30
The bards that erst have struck the patriot lyre,
And rous’d the freeborn Briton’s soul of fire,
No more thy England own!
Dare injured nations form the great design,
To make detested tyrants bleed? 35
Thy England execrates the glorious deed!
Beneath her hostile banners waving,
Every pang of honour braving,
England in thunder calls, “The tyrant’s cause is mine!”
That hour accurst how did the fiends rejoice 40
And hell, thro’ all her confines, raise the exulting voice,
That hour which saw the generous English name
Linkt with such damned deeds of everlasting shame!
Thee, Caledonia! thy wild heaths among,
Fam’d for the martial deed, the heaven-taught song, 45
To thee I turn with swimming eyes;
Where is that soul of Freedom fled?
Immingled with the mighty dead,
Beneath that hallow’d turf where Wallace lies
Hear it not, WALLACE! in thy bed of death. 50
Ye babbling winds! in silence sweep,
Disturb not ye the hero’s sleep,
Nor give the coward secret breath!
Is this the ancient Caledonian form,
Firm as the rock, resistless as the storm? 55
Show me that eye which shot immortal hate,
Blasting the despot’s proudest bearing;
Show me that arm which, nerv’d with thundering fate,
Crush’d Usurpation’s boldest daring! —
Dark-quench’d as yonder sinking star, 60
No
more that glance lightens afar;
That palsied arm no more whirls on the waste of war.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
467.
Inscription to Miss Graham of Fintry
HERE, where the Scottish Muse immortal lives,
In sacred strains and tuneful numbers joined,
Accept the gift; though humble he who gives,
Rich is the tribute of the grateful mind.
So may no ruffian-feeling in my breast, 5
Discordant, jar thy bosom-chords among;
But Peace attune thy gentle soul to rest,
Or Love, ecstatic, wake his seraph song,
Or Pity’s notes, in luxury of tears,
As modest Want the tale of woe reveals; 10
While conscious Virtue all the strains endears,
And heaven-born Piety her sanction seals.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
468.
On the Seas and far away (Song)
Tune— “O’er the hills and far away.”
HOW can my poor heart be glad,
When absent from my sailor lad;
How can I the thought forego —
He’s on the seas to meet the foe?
Let me wander, let me rove, 5
Still my heart is with my love;
Nightly dreams, and thoughts by day,
Are with him that’s far away.
Chorus. — On the seas and far away,
On stormy seas and far away; 10
Nightly dreams and thoughts by day,
Are aye with him that’s far away.
When in summer noon I faint,
As weary flocks around me pant,
Haply in this scorching sun, 15
My sailor’s thund’ring at his gun;
Bullets, spare my only joy!
Bullets, spare my darling boy!
Fate, do with me what you may,
Spare but him that’s far away, 20
On the seas and far away,
On stormy seas and far away;
Fate, do with me what you may,
Spare but him that’s far away.
At the starless, midnight hour 25
When Winter rules with boundless power,
As the storms the forests tear,
And thunders rend the howling air,
Listening to the doubling roar,
Surging on the rocky shore, 30
All I can — I weep and pray
For his weal that’s far away,
On the seas and far away,
On stormy seas and far away;
All I can — I weep and pray, 35
For his weal that’s far away.
Peace, thy olive wand extend,
And bid wild War his ravage end,
Man with brother Man to meet,
And as a brother kindly greet; 40
Then may heav’n with prosperous gales,
Fill my sailor’s welcome sails;
To my arms their charge convey,
My dear lad that’s far away.
On the seas and far away, 45
On stormy seas and far away;
To my arms their charge convey,
My dear lad that’s far away.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
469.
Ca’ the Yowes to the Knowes (Song)
Second Version
Chorus. — Ca’the yowes to the knowes,
Ca’ them where the heather grows,
Ca’ them where the burnie rowes,
My bonie Dearie.
HARK the mavis’ e’ening sang, 5
Sounding Clouden’s woods amang;
Then a-faulding let us gang,
My bonie Dearie.
Ca’ the yowes, &c.
We’ll gae down by Clouden side, 10
Thro’ the hazels, spreading wide,
O’er the waves that sweetly glide,
To the moon sae clearly.
Ca’ the yowes, &c.
Yonder Clouden’s silent towers, 15
Where, at moonshine’s midnight hours,
O’er the dewy-bending flowers,
Fairies dance sae cheery.
Ca’ the yowes, &c.
Ghaist nor bogle shalt thou fear, 20
Thou’rt to Love and Heav’n sae dear,
Nocht of ill may come thee near;
My bonie Dearie.
Ca’ the yowes, &c.
Fair and lovely as thou art, 25
Thou hast stown my very heart;
I can die — but canna part,
My bonie Dearie.
Ca’ the yowes, &c.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
470.
She says she loes me best of a’ (Song)
Tune— “Oonagh’s Waterfall.”
SAE flaxen were her ringlets,
Her eyebrows of a darker hue,
Bewitchingly o’er-arching
Twa laughing e’en o’ lovely blue;
Her smiling, sae wyling. 5
Wad make a wretch forget his woe;
What pleasure, what treasure,
Unto these rosy lips to grow!
Such was my Chloris’ bonie face,
When first that bonie face I saw; 10
And aye my Chloris’ dearest charm —
She says, she lo’es me best of a’.
Like harmony her motion,
Her pretty ankle is a spy,
Betraying fair proportion, 15
Wad make a saint forget the sky:
Sae warming, sae charming,
Her faultless form and gracefu’ air;
Ilk feature — auld Nature
Declar’d that she could do nae mair: 20
Hers are the willing chains o’ love,
By conquering Beauty’s sovereign law;
And still my Chloris’ dearest charm —
She says, she lo’es me best of a’.
Let others love the city, 25
And gaudy show, at sunny noon;
Gie me the lonely valley,
The dewy eve and rising moon,
Fair beaming, and streaming,
Her silver light the boughs amang; 30
While falling; recalling,
The amorous thrush concludes his sang;
There, dearest Chloris, wilt thou rove,
By wimpling burn and leafy shaw,
And hear my vows o’ truth and love, 35
And say, thou lo’es me best of a’.
Chronological List of Poems
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471.
Epigram on Jessy Staig’s recovery
On Miss Jessy Staig’s recovery.
MAXWELL, if merit here you crave,
That merit I deny;
You save fair Jessie from the grave! —
An Angel could not die!
Chronological List of Poems
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472.
To the beautiful Miss Eliza J —— n, on her principles of Liberty and Eqality
On her Principles of Liberty and Equality.
HOW, Liberty! girl, can it be by thee nam’d?
Equality too! hussey, art not asham’d?
Free and Equal indeed, while mankind thou enchainest,
And over their hearts a proud Despot so reignest.
Chronological List of Poems
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473.
On Chloris requesting a sprig of blossom’d thorn
Requesting me to give her a Spring of Blossomed Thorn.
FROM the white-blossom’d sloe my dear Chloris requested
A sprig, her fair breast to adorn:
No, by Heavens! I exclaim’d, let me perish, if ever
I plant in that bosom a thorn!
Chronological List of Poems
474.
On seeing Mrs. Kemble in Yarico
KEMBLE, thou cur’st my unbelief
For Moses and his rod;
At Yarico’s sweet nor of grief
The rock with tears had flow’d.
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475.
Epigram on a Country Laird (Cardoness)
not quite so wise as Solomon.
BLESS Jesus Christ, O Cardonessp,
With grateful, lifted eyes,
Who taught that not the soul alone,
But body too shall rise;
For had He said “the soul alone 5
From death I will deliver,”
Alas, alas! O Cardoness,
Then hadst thou lain for ever.
Chronological List of Poems
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476.
Epigram on the same Laird’s Country Seat
Belonging to the same Laird.