Robert Burns (1759-1796). The Banks o' Doon. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1909. The Book of Georgian Verse

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909.

The Banks o’ Doon

By Robert Burns (1759–1796)


YE flowery banks o’ bonnie Doon,
How can ye blume sae fair?
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And I sae fu’ o’ care!

Thou’ll break my heart, thou bonnie bird,	5
That sings upon the bough!
Thou minds me o’ the happy days
When my fause Luve was true.

Thou’ll break my heart, thou bonnie bird,
That sings beside thy mate;	10
For sae I sat, and sae I sang,
And wist na o’ my fate.

Aft hae I rov’d by bonnie Doon,
To see the woodbine twine;
And ilka bird sang o’ its Luve,	15
And sae did I o’ mine.

Wi’ lightsome heart I pu’d a rose
Upon its thorny tree;
But my fause Luver staw my rose,
And left the thorn wi’ me.	20

Wi’ lightsome heart I pu’d a rose
Upon a morn in June;
And sae I flourish’d on the morn,
And sae was pu’d or moon.