Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon,
  How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair;
How can ye [chant]1, ye little birds,
  And I sae weary, fu' o' care!
Thou'lt break my heart, thou warbling bird,
  That [wantons]2 thro' the [flowering]3 thorn: 
Thou minds me o' departed joys,
  Departed -- never to return!

[Aft]4 hae I rov'd by bonnie Doon,
  To see the rose and woodbine twine;
And ilka bird sang o' its [luve]5,
  And fondly sae did I o' mine.
Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose,
  Fu' sweet upon its thorny tree;
[And my fause luver]6 [stole the]7 rose,
  [But, ah! he]8 left the thorn wi' me.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing His Poems, Songs and Correspondence. With a New Life of the Poet, and Notices, Critical and Biographical, by Allan Cunningham. Elegantly illustrated, Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, 1859, page 257.

¹ Grainger, Quilter: "chaunt"
² Grainger: "warbles"
³ Quilter: "flower"; Grainger: "flow'ring"
⁴ Quilter: "Oft"
⁵ Quilter: "love"
⁶ Grainger, Quilter: "But my fause lover"
⁷ Grainger: "staw my"
⁸ Quilter: "And oh, he"

Authorship

• by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "The Banks o' Doon", subtitle: "[Second version]" [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 Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882 - 1961), "Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon", 1901-32, published 1937 [ chorus ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "Ye banks and braes" [sung text checked 1 time]

Set in a modified version by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach, Maurice Ravel.

• Go to the text. [ view differences ] CZE FRE GER IRI
  

Set in a modified version by David Arditti.

• Go to the text. [ view differences ] GER
  

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Wilhelm Christoph Leonhard Gerhard (1780 - 1858) , "Am Ufer des Doon", page 191, poem No. 108, first published 1840 ; composed by Robert Franz, Moritz Hauptmann, Hubert Ferdinand Kufferath.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Hans Gál (1890 - 1987) , "Du liebe Flur im Seengrund", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission ; composed by Hans Gál.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in Scottish (Scots), [adaptation] ; composed by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach, Maurice Ravel.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in Scottish (Scots), [adaptation] ; composed by Hans Gál.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Břehy Doonu"
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: John Versmoren

This text was added to the website: 2004-07-11
Line count: 16
Word count: 108

A dhúthaigh shéimh cois Abhainn Dhùin
Faoi bhláth inniu chomh húr chomh breá
Cén chantain agaibh, a éiníní,
Is mise anseo is mo chroí á leá.
Táim bristechroíoch, a éiníní,
Is sibh os cionn an draighinn faoi bhláth
Is cuimhin liom laethanta fadó
Nach bhfillfidh orainn arís go brách.
 
Is gnách liom siúl cois Abhainn Dhùin
An féithleann, an rós le chéile táid
Is na héin ag canadh ar aon chraobh
Ag canadh atá siad faoi mo ghrá.
Go haerach phiocas féin an rós
A fhásann thíos cois Abhainn Dhùin
Mo leannán cam do ghoid an rós
Is d’fhág agamsa an dealg rúin.