Delphi Complete Works of Robert Burns (Illustrated) (Delphi Poets Series) (3 page)
Read Delphi Complete Works of Robert Burns (Illustrated) (Delphi Poets Series) Online
Authors: Robert Burns
A depiction of the Burns family in the birthplace museum
The famous portrait of Burns by Alexander Nasmyth, 1787
The original title page of the Kilmarnock Edition
The now famous meeting of Robert Burns (left) and a young Sir Walter Scott (centre left), painted by Charles Hardie, 1893
1.
Tune
— “I am a man unmarried.”
O ONCE I lov’d a bonie lass,
Ay, and I love her still;
And whilst that virtue warms my breast,
I’ll love my handsome Nell.
As bonie lasses I hae seen,
5
And mony full as braw;
But, for a modest gracefu’ mein,
The like I never saw.
A bonie lass, I will confess,
Is pleasant to the e’e;
10
But, without some better qualities,
She’s no a lass for me.
But Nelly’s looks are blythe and sweet,
And what is best of a’,
Her reputation is complete,
15
And fair without a flaw.
She dresses aye sae clean and neat,
Both decent and genteel;
And then there’s something in her gait
Gars ony dress look weel.
20
A gaudy dress and gentle air
May slightly touch the heart;
But it’s innocence and modesty
That polishes the dart.
‘Tis this in Nelly pleases me,
25
‘Tis this enchants my soul;
For absolutely in my breast
She reigns without control.
2.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day (Song)
Tune
— “Invercauld’s Reel, or Strathspey.”
Chor.
— O Tibbie, I hae seen the day,
Ye wadna been sae shy;
For laik o’ gear ye lightly me,
But, trowth, I care na by.
YESTREEN I met you on the moor,
5
Ye spak na, but gaed by like stour;
Ye geck at me because I’m poor,
But fient a hair care I.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
When coming hame on Sunday last,
10
Upon the road as I cam past,
Ye snufft and ga’e your head a cast —
But trowth I care’t na by.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
I doubt na, lass, but ye may think,
15
Because ye hae the name o’ clink,
That ye can please me at a wink,
Whene’er ye like to try.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
But sorrow tak’ him that’s sae mean,
20
Altho’ his pouch o’ coin were clean,
Wha follows ony saucy quean,
That looks sae proud and high.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
Altho’ a lad were e’er sae smart,
25
If that he want the yellow dirt,
Ye’ll cast your head anither airt,
And answer him fu’ dry.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
But, if he hae the name o’ gear,
30
Ye’ll fasten to him like a brier,
Tho’ hardly he, for sense or lear,
Be better than the kye.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
But, Tibbie, lass, tak’ my advice:
35
Your daddie’s gear maks you sae nice;
The deil a ane wad speir your price,
Were ye as poor as I.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
There lives a lass beside yon park,
40
I’d rather hae her in her sark,
Than you wi’ a’ your thousand mark;
That gars you look sae high.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
3.
I DREAM’D I lay where flowers were springing
Gaily in the sunny beam;
List’ning to the wild birds singing,
By a falling crystal stream:
Straight the sky grew black and daring;
5
Thro’ the woods the whirlwinds rave;
Tress with aged arms were warring,
O’er the swelling drumlie wave.
Such was my life’s deceitful morning,
Such the pleasures I enjoyed:
10
But lang or noon, loud tempests storming
A’ my flowery bliss destroy’d.
Tho’ fickle fortune has deceiv’d me —
She promis’d fair, and perform’d but ill,
Of mony a joy and hope bereav’d me —
15
I bear a heart shall support me still.
