316. Song-The Banks o’ Doon (First Version). Burns, Robert. 1909-14. Poems and Songs. The Harvard Classics

Robert Burns (1759–1796). Poems and Songs.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

316. Song—The Banks o’ Doon (First Version)

First Version


SWEET are the banks—the banks o’ Doon,
The spreading flowers are fair,
And everything is blythe and glad,
But I am fu’ o’ care.
Thou’ll break my heart, thou bonie 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 bonie 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 bonie Doon,
To see the woodbine twine;
And ilka birds 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 flourished on the morn,
And sae was pu’d or noon!