by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
Bess and her spinning wheel
Language: Scottish (Scots)
Available translation(s): FRE
O leeze me on my spinnin-wheel! And leeze me on my rock and reel, Frae tap to tae that cleeds me bien, And haps me fiel and warm at e'en! I'll set me down and sing and spin, While laigh descends the simmer sun, Blest wi' content, and milk and meal – O leeze me on my spinnin-wheel! On ilka hand the burnies trot, And meet below my theekit cot. The scented birk and hawthorn white Across the pool their arms unite, Alike to screen the birdie's nest And little fishes' callor rest: The sun blinks kindly in the biel' Where, blythe I turn my spinnin wheel. On lofty aiks the cushats wail, And Echo cons the doolfu' tale; The lintwhites in the hazel braes, Delighted, rival ithers lays: The craik amang the claver hay, The pairtrick whirrin o'er the ley, The swallow jinkin round my shiel, Amuse me at my spinnin wheel.- Wi' sma' to sell, and less to buy, Aboon distress, below envy, O wha wad leave this humble state, For a' the pride of a' the Great? Amid their flairing, idle toys, Amid their cumbrous, dinsome joys, Can they the peace and pleasure feel Of Bessy at her spinnin wheel!
Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 240.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Authorship:
- by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Bess and her spinning wheel" [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "Bess and her spinning wheel", Hob. XXXIa no. 147, JHW. XXXII/2 no. 147 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Francis George Scott (1880 - 1958), "Bess and her spinning wheel", c1929 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Georg Pertz (1830 - 1870) ; composed by Bruno Ramann.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "U kolovrátku"
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Oh que j'aime mon rouet !", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 203