Anonymous: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

I gaed a waefu' gate yestreen

Anonymous

“I gaed a waefu' gate yestreen” as printed in The Scottish Minstrel (Second Series) (1851).

Anonymous: Collected Lyrics Text 10 1851 · historical text
Public domainScottish songFolk
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Scottish Minstrel (Second Series), a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

I gaed a waefu' gate yestreen,

A gate, I fear, I'll dearly rue;

I gat my death fraé twa sweet een,

Twa lovely een o' bonnie blue.

'Twas not her golden ringlets bright,

Her lips like roses, wat wi' dew,

Her heaving bosom, lily-white,

It was her een sae bonnie blue.

Verse 2

She talked, she smiled, my heart she wiled,

She charmed my soul, I wistna how;

And aye the stound, the deadly wound,

Cam frae her een sae bonnie blue.

But, spare to speak, and spare to speed,

She'll ablins listen to my vow;

Should she refuse, I'II lay me dead

To her twa een sae bonnie blue.

Credits

Written by Anonymous

Words by Anonymous. Historical text published in The Scottish Minstrel (Second Series) (1851); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Scottish Minstrel (Second Series) (1851), “I gaed a waefu' gate yestreen”

Every contribution in this 1851 anthology predates modern copyright terms; any contributor died more than 130 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-25. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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