Pine Valley

Poems by Robert Burns

Rabbie, or Rob, or Rab, but never Bobby...

Robert Bruce's March to Bannockburn

SCOTS, wha hae wi' WALLACE bled,
Scots, wham BRUCE has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to Victorie!
Now's the day, and now's the hour;
See the front o' battle lour;
See approach proud EDWARD'Spower
Chains and Slaverie!

Wha will be traitor knave?
Wha can fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a Slave?
Let him turn and flee!
Wha, for Scotland's King and Law,
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
FREE-MAN stand, or FREE-MAN fa',
Let him on wi' me!

By Oppression's woes and pains!
By your Sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free!
Lay the proud Usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
LIBERTY'S in every blow!--
Let us Do--or Die!!!

So may God ever defend the cause of Truth and Liberty as He did that day! AMEN!--R.B.

The Highland Widow's Lament
Oh I am come to the low Countrie,
Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie!
Without a penny in my purse.
To buy a meal to me.
It was na sae in the Highland hills,
Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie!
Nae woman in the Country wide
Sae happy was as me.
For then I had a score o' kye
Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie!
Feeding on you nill sae high,
And giving milk to me.
And there I had three score o' yowes,
Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie!
Skipping on ou bonie knowes,
And casting woo to me.
I was the happiest of a' the Clan,
Sair, sair may I repine;
For Donald was the brawest man,
And Donald he was mine.
Till Charlie Stewart cam at last,
Sae far to set us free;
My Donald's arm was wanted then,
For Scotland and for me.
Their waefu' fate what need I tell,
Right to wrang did yield;
My Donald and his Country fell
Upon Culloden field.
Ochon! O Donald, oh!
Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie!
Nae woman in the warld wide,
Sae wretched now as me.

Farewell to the Highlands

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the north,
The birth-place of Valor, the country of Worth;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
A-chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.

Farewell to the mountains, high-cover'd with snow,
Farewell to the straths and green vallies below;
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,
Farewell to the torrents and loud pouring floods.

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
A-chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.

Out Over the Forth

Out over the Forth, I look to the north;
But what is the north and its Highlands to me?
The south nor the east gie ease to my breast,
The far foreign land, or the wide rolling sea.

But I look to the west when I gae to my rest,
That happy my dreams and my slumbers may be;
For far in the west lives he I love best,
The man that is dear to my babie and me.

There'll Never Be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame

By yon Castle wa', at the close of the day
I heard a man sing, tho' his head it was grey;
And as he was singing, the tears doon came,—
There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame.

The Church is in ruins, the State is in jars,
Delusions, oppressions, and murderous wars,
We dare na weel say't, but we ken wha's to blame,—
There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame.

My seven braw sons for Jamie drew sword,
But now I greet round the green beds in the yerd;
It brak the sweet heart o' my faithfu' auld dame,—
There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame.

Now life is a burden that bows me down,
Sin I tint my bairns, and he tint his crown;
But till my last moments my words are the same,—
There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame.