Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Auld Rob Morris

Robert Burns

“Auld Rob Morris” as printed in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887).

Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics Text 116 1887 · historical text
Public domainScottish songSong lyrics
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Poetical Works of Robert Burns, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

There's auld Rob Morris that wons in yon glen,

He's the king o' gude fellows and wale of auld men;

He has gowd in his coffers, he has owsen and kine,

And ae bonie lassie, his darling and mine.

Verse 2

She's fresh as the morning, the fairest in May;

She's sweet as the ev'ning amang the new hay;

As blythe and as artless as the lamb on the lea,

And dear to my heart as the light to my ee.

Verse 3

But oh! she's an heiress, auld Robin's a laird,

And my daddie has nought but a cot-house and yard;

A wooer like me maunna hope to come speed,

The wounds I must hide that will soon be my dead.

Verse 4

The day comes to me, but delight brings me nane;

The night comes to me, but my rest it is gane:

I wander my lane, like a night-troubled ghaist,

And I sigh as my heart it wad burst in my breast

Verse 5

O had she but been of a lower degree,

I then might hae hop'd she wad smil'd upon me;

O how past describing had then been my bliss,

As now my distraction no words can express!

Credits

Written by Robert Burns

Words by Robert Burns. Historical text published in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887), “Auld Rob Morris”

Every text in this 1887 collected edition is by Robert Burns (1759-1796), who died more than 230 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide; the edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination and a pre-1931 United States publication.

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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