Fate gave the word, the arrow sped,
And pierc'd my darling's heart,
And with him all the joys are fled
Life can to me impart. 
By cruel hands the sapling drops,
In dust dishonour'd laid :
So fell the pride of all my hopes,
My age's future shade.
 
The mother linnet in the brake
Bewails her ravish'd young :
So I, for my lost darling's sake
Lament the live-day long. 
Death, oft I've fear'd thy fatal blow !
Now, fond, I bare my breast !
O, do thou kindly lay me low
With him I love, at rest!

Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 225.

Glossary

Brake = thicket

Text Authorship:

• by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Gil Morris" [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), "Gil Morris", subtitle: "A mother's lamentation for the loss of her son", Hob. XXXIa:196, JHW. XXXII/3 no. 238. [voice and piano] [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , title 1: "Lamentation d'une mère", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2009-07-14
Line count: 16
Word count: 94