dots-menu
×

Home  »  The English Poets  »  The Banks o’ Doon

Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. III. The Eighteenth Century: Addison to Blake

Robert Burns (1759–1796)

The Banks o’ Doon

TUNE—‘The Caledonian Hunt’s delight.’

YE banks and braes o’ bonie Doon,

How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair!

How can ye chant, ye little birds,

And I sae weary fu’ o’ care!

Thou ’lt break my heart, thou warbling bird,

That wantons thro’ the flowering thorn:

Thou minds me o’ departed joys,

Departed—never to return.

Aft hae I rov’d by bonie Doon,

To see the rose and woodbine twine;

And ilka bird sang o’ its luve,

And fondly sae did I o’ mine.

Wi’ lightsome heart I pu’d a rose,

Fu’ sweet upon its thorny tree;

And my fause luver staw my rose,

But ah! he left the thorn wi’ me.