Wae is my heart, and the tear's in my e'e;
Lang, lang has Joy been a stranger to me:
Forsaken and friendless, my burden I bear,
And the sweet voice o' Pity ne'er sounds in my ear.

Love thou hast pleasures, and deep hae I luv'd;
Love, thou hast sorrows, and sair hae I pruv'd;
But this bruised heart that now bleeds in my breast,
I can feel, by its throbbings, will soon be at rest.

Oh, if I were - where happy I hae been -
Down by yon stream, and yon bonnie castle-green;
For there he is wand'ring and musing on me,
Wha wad soon dry the tear-drop that clings to my e'e.

Note: Beethoven uses the second verse of this text between two verses by Anne Grant in the song "In vain to this desert my fate I deplore".

Text Authorship:

• by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "The Tear-Drop", written 1794 [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):

[ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Heinrich Julius Heintze (1811 - 1860) , "O schwer ist mein Herz" ; composed by Ferdinand von Hiller, Carl Lührss.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Wilhelm Christoph Leonhard Gerhard (1780 - 1858) , "Liebesweh" ; composed by Heinrich Esser, Heinrich August Marschner.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), [adaptation] ; composed by Joseph Rheinberger.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• GER German (Deutsch) ((Johann) Philipp Kaufmann) , no title [an adaptation]

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2009-05-23
Line count: 12
Word count: 113