Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Song—i Hae A Wife O' My Ain

I HAE a wife of my ain,I'll partake wi' naebody;I'll take Cuckold frae nane,I'll gie Cuckold to naebody.I hae a penny to spend,There—thanks to..

© Robert Burns

Song—behold, My Love, How Green The Groves

BEHOLD, my love, how green the groves,The primrose banks how fair;The balmy gales awake the flowers,And wave thy flowing hair.The lav'rock shuns the..

© Robert Burns

Song—the Bonie Wee Thing

Chorus.—Bonie wee thing, cannie wee thing,Lovely wee thing, wert thou mine,I wad wear thee in my bosom,Lest my jewel it should tine.WISHFULLY I look..

© Robert Burns

Sketch In Verse, Inscribed To The Right Hon. C. J. Fox

HOW wisdom and Folly meet, mix, and unite,How Virtue and Vice blend their black and their white,How Genius, th' illustrious father of..

© Robert Burns

Song—m'Pherson's Farewell

FAREWELL, ye dungeons dark and strong,The wretch's destinie!M'Pherson's time will not be longOn yonder gallows-tree.Chorus.—Sae rantingly, sae..

© Robert Burns

Song—my Collier Laddie

WHARE live ye, my bonie lass?And tell me what they ca' ye;My name, she says, is mistress Jean,And I follow the Collier laddie.My name, she says..

© Robert Burns

Verses Written With A Pencil At The Inn At Kenmore

ADMIRING Nature in her wildest grace,These northern scenes with weary feet I trace;O'er many a winding dale and painful steep,Th' abodes of covey'd..

© Robert Burns

The Twa Herds; Or, The Holy Tulyie

O A' ye pious godly flocks,Weel fed on pastures orthodox,Wha now will keep you frae the fox,Or worrying tykes?Or wha will tent the waifs an'..

© Robert Burns

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..

© Robert Burns

Song—the Bonie Moor-Hen

THE HEATHER was blooming, the meadows were mawn,Our lads gaed a-hunting ae day at the dawn,O'er moors and o'er mosses and mony a glen,At length they..

© Robert Burns

Song—of A' The Airts The Wind Can Blaw

OF 1 a' the airts the wind can blaw,I dearly like the west,For there the bonie lassie lives,The lassie I lo'e best:There's wild-woods grow, and..

© Robert Burns

Complimentary Epigram To Mrs. Riddell

"PRAISE Woman still," his lordship roars,"Deserv'd or not, no matter?"But thee, whom all my soul adores,Ev'n Flattery cannot flatter:Maria, all my..

© Robert Burns

Song—had I A Cave

HAD I a cave on some wild distant shore,Where the winds howl to the wave's dashing roar:There would I weep my woes,There seek my lost repose,Till..

© Robert Burns

On A Scotch Bard, Gone To The West Indies

A' YE wha live by sowps o' drink,A' ye wha live by crambo-clink,A' ye wha live and never think,Come, mourn wi' me!Our billie 's gien us a' a jink,An'..

© Robert Burns

Grace Before And After Meat

O LORD, when hunger pinches sore,Do thou stand us in stead,And send us, from thy bounteous store,A tup or wether head! Amen.————O Lord, since we have..

© Robert Burns

Stanzas, On The Same Occasion

WHY am I loth to leave this earthly scene?Have I so found it full of pleasing charms?Some drops of joy with draughts of ill between—Some gleams of..

© Robert Burns

Address Spoken By Miss Fontenelle

STILL anxious to secure your partial favour,And not less anxious, sure, this night, than ever,A Prologue, Epilogue, or some such matter,'Twould vamp..

© Robert Burns

Ballad On Mr. Heron's Election—no. 1

WHOM will you send to London town,To Parliament and a' that?Or wha in a' the country roundThe best deserves to fa' that?For a' that, and a'..

© Robert Burns

Epitaph For James Smith

LAMENT him, Mauchline husbands a',He aften did assist ye;For had ye staid hale weeks awa,Your wives they ne'er had miss'd ye.Ye Mauchline bairns, as..

© Robert Burns

Song—guid Ale Keeps The Heart Aboon

Chorus—O gude ale comes and gude ale goes;Gude ale gars me sell my hose,Sell my hose, and pawn my shoon—Gude ale keeps my heart aboon!I HAD sax owsen..

© Robert Burns

Song—by Allan Stream

BY Allan stream I chanc'd to rove,While Phoebus sank beyond Benledi;The winds are whispering thro' the grove,The yellow corn was waving ready:I..

© Robert Burns

Frae The Friends And Land I Love

FRAE the friends and land I love,Driv'n by Fortune's felly spite;Frae my best belov'd I rove,Never mair to taste delight:Never mair maun hope to..

© Robert Burns

Scroggam, My Dearie

THERE was a wife wonn'd in Cockpen,Scroggam;She brew'd gude ale for gentlemen;Sing auld Cowl lay ye down by me,Scroggam, my dearie, ruffum.The..

© Robert Burns

Versified Reply To An Invitation

SIR,Yours this moment I unseal,And faith I'm gay and hearty!To tell the truth and shame the deil,I am as fou as Bartie:But Foorsday, sir, my promise..

© Robert Burns

Epitaph On James Grieve

HERE lies Boghead amang the deadIn hopes to get salvation;But if such as he in Heav'n may be,Then welcome, hail! damnation.

© Robert Burns