by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)

Auld Rob Morris
Language: Scottish (Scots) 
Our translations:  FRE
There's auld Rob Morris that wons in yon glen,
He's the king of gude fellows, and wale of auld men;
He has gowd in his coffers, he has sheep, he has kine,
And ae bonnie lassie, his darling and mine.
 
She's fresh as the morning, the fairest in May,
She's sweet as the ev'ning amang the new hay;
As blythe and as artless as the lambs on the lea,
And dear to my heart as the light to my e'e.
 
But oh, she's an heiress, auld Robin's a laird,
And my daddie has nought but a cot-house and yard:
A wooer like me maunna hope to come speed;
The wounds I maun hide which will soon be my dead.

The day comes to me, but delight brings me nane;
The night comes to me, but my rest it is gane;
I wander my lane like a night-troubled ghaist,
And I sigh as my heart it wad burst in my breast.

O had she but been of a lower degree,
I then might hae hop'd she wad smil'd upon me!
O, how past descriving had then been my bliss,
As now my distraction no words can express!

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   J. Haydn 

J. Haydn sets stanzas 1-3, 5

See also this folksong.

Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 271.

Glossary

Wons = dwells
Wale = choice
Gowd = gold
Kine = cows
Laird = man of landed property
Cot-house = tied or rented cottage on a farm
Maunna = must not
Descriving = describing

Text Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Starý Rob Morris"
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Le vieux Rob Morris", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani , Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2009-09-02
Line count: 20
Word count: 196