by
Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
I gaed a waefu' gate yestreen
Language: Scottish (Scots)
I gaed a waefu' gate yestreen,
A gate I fear I'll dearly rue:
I gat my death frae twa sweet een,
Twa lovely een o' bonie blue!
'Twas not her golden ringlets bright,
Her lips like roses wat wi' dew,
Her heaving bosom lily-white:
It was her een sae bonie blue.
She talk'd, she smil'd, my heart she wyl'd,
She charm'd my soul I wist na how;
And ay the stound, the deadly wound,
Cam frae her een sae bonie blue.
But 'spare to speak, and spare to speed' -
She'll aiblins listen to my vow:
Should she refuse, I'll lay my dead
To her twa een sae bonie blue.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with
The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 230.
Glossary:
Blathrie = nonsense
Gate = road
Een = eyes
Wyl'd = beguiled by flattery
Wist = knew
Stound = ache, pain
Aiblins = perhaps
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):
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810 - 1876) , "Einen schlimmen Weg", appears in Gedichte, in Robert Burns. Elf Lieder [later 13 Lieder], no. 5, first published 1838 ; composed by Louis Ehlert, Robert Franz, Adolf Jensen, Heinrich August Marschner.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Bartsch , "Das blauäugige Mädchen", appears in Robert Burns' Lieder und Balladen, in Liebe ; composed by Wilhelm Kleinecke.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Chrpové oči"
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2006-04-05
Line count: 16
Word count: 109
J'ai suivi la nuit dernière un bien...
Language: French (Français) after the Scottish (Scots)
J'ai suivi la nuit dernière un bien triste chemin,
Un chemin que je crains de regretter amèrement :
J'ai reçu la mort de deux yeux doux,
Deux yeux charmants d'un beau bleu !
Ce n'étaient pas ses boucles d'or clair,
Ses lèvres comme des roses humides de rosée,
Son sein arrondi blanc comme le lis :
C'étaient ses yeux d'un si beau bleu.
Elle parla, elle sourit, elle envoûta mon cœur,
Elle charma mon âme, je ne sais comment ;
Et toujours la douleur, la blessure mortelle
Venait de ses yeux d'un si beau bleu.
Mais « faute de parler on manque son coup »
Peut-être écoutera-t-elle mon serment :
Si elle refuse, je mettrai ma mort
Sur le compte de ses deux yeux d'un si beau bleu.
About the headline (FAQ)
Title "The blue-eyed lassie" = "La fille aux yeux bleus"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Scottish (Scots) to French (Français) copyright © 2014 by Pierre Mathé, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in Scottish (Scots) by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "The blue-eyed lassie"
This text was added to the website: 2014-09-22
Line count: 16
Word count: 123
