Anonymous: Collected Lyrics
12 / 13
Public-domain lyrics

My love is like a red, red rose

Anonymous

“My love is like a red, red rose” as printed in The Scottish Minstrel (Second Series) (1851).

Anonymous: Collected Lyrics Text 12 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

O my love's like the red, red rose

That's newly sprung in June:

O my love's like the melody

That's sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in love am I,

And I will love thee still, my dear,

Tho' a' the seas gang dry.

Verse 2

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi' the sun';

And I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands of life shall run.

But fare thee weel, my only love,

And fare thee weel a while;

And I will come again, my love,

Tho' 'twere ten thousand mile.

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), “My love is like a red, red rose”

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.
Keep tracing

More from Anonymous: Collected Lyrics.

01Auld Rob Morris 1Public-domain lyrics02Comin' thro' the rye 1Public-domain lyrics03Comin' thro' the rye 2Public-domain lyrics04Ettrick BanksPublic-domain lyrics