When the sheep are in the fauld and the ky at hame,
And a' the weary warld to rest are gane,
The waes of my heart fa' in show'rs frae my ee,
While my gude man lies sound by me.
 
Young Jamie lo'ed me weel and sought me for his bride;
But saving a crown he had naething beside;
To make the crown a pound my Jamie gaed to sea;
And the crown and the pound were baith for me.
 
He had na been gane but a year and a day,
When my father brake his arm and our cow was stown
away;
My mother she fell sick and my Jamie at the sea
And auld Robin Gray came a courting me.
 
My father cou'd na work, and my mother cou'd na spin,
I toil'd day and night, but their bread I cou'd na win;
Auld Rob maintain'd them baith, and wi' tears in his ee,
Said, Jenny, for their sakes, O marry me!
 
My heart it said Na; I look'd for Jamie back:
But the wind it blew hard, and the ship it was a wreck;
The ship it was a wreck -- why did na Jenny die.
O why was she spar'd to cry, Wae's me.
 
My father argu'd sair; my mother did na speak
But she looked in my face till my heart was like to break.
Sae I gae him my hand, but my heart was i' the sea;
And auld Robin Gray is gudeman to me.
 
I had na been a wife a week but only four,
When sitting sae mournfully ae night at the door,
I saw my Jamie's wraith, for I cou'd na think it he,
Till he said I'm come hame, love, to marry thee.
 
O sair did we greet and muckle did we say
We took but ae kiss, and we tore ourselves away.
I wish that I were dead; but I'm no like to die:
How lang shall I live to cry, O waes me.
 
I gang like a ghaist, and I dow na think to spin;
I dare na think on Jamie, for that wou'd be a sin;
But I'll e'en do my best a gude wife to be,
For auld Robin Gray is ay kind to me.