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

316 . Song—The Banks o’ Doon (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,

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;

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,

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:

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!