Turn again, thou fair Eliza!
Ae kind blink before we part!
Rew on thy despairing luver –
Canst thou break his faithfu' heart?
Turn again, thou fair Eliza!
If to luve thy heart denies,
For pity hide the cruel sentence
Under friendship's kind disguise!

Thee, dear maid, ha'e I offended?
The offence is luving thee.
Can thou wreck his peace for ever,
Wha for thine wad gladly die?
While the life beats in my bosom,
Thou shalt mix in ilka throe.
Turn again, thou lovely maiden,
Ae sweet smile on me bestow!

Not the bee upon the blossom
In the pride o' sinny noon,
Not the little sporting fairy
All beneath the simmer moon,
Not the poet, in the moment
Fancy lightens in his ee,
Kens the pleasure, feels the rapture,
That thy presence gi'es to me.

Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 242.

GLOSSARY

Ae = one
Blink = glance
Ilka = every
Sinny = sunny
Kens = knows

Text Authorship:

• by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Fair Eliza" [author's text checked 1 time 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), "Fair Eliza", Hob. XXXIa no. 117, JHW. XXXII/2 no. 117 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Wilhelm Christoph Leonhard Gerhard (1780 - 1858) , "Kehre wieder!" ; composed by Carl Friedrich Wilhelm.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Belle Eliza", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2013-03-28
Line count: 24
Word count: 137