Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Ode, sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Oswald

Robert Burns

“Ode, sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Oswald” as printed in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887).

Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics Text 273 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

Dweller in yon dungeon dark,

Hangman of creation, mark!

Who in widow-weeds appears,

Laden with unhonoured years,

Noosing with care a bursting purse,

Baited with many a deadly curse!

Verse 2

Strophe.

Verse 3

View the wither'd beldam's face—

Can thy keen inspection trace

Aught of humanity's sweet melting grace?

Note that eye, 'tis rheum o'erflows,

Pity's flood there never rose.

See those hands, ne'er stretch'd to save,

Hands that took—but never gave.

Keeper of Mammon's iron chest,

Lo, there she goes, unpitied and unblest

She goes, but not to realms of everlasting rest!

Verse 4

Antistrophe.

Verse 5

Plunderer of armies, lift thine eyes,

(A while forbear, ye tort'ring fiends)

Seest thou whose step unwilling hither bends?

No fallen angel, hurl'd from upper skies;

'Tis thy trusty quondam mate,

Doom'd to share thy fiery fate,

She, tardy, hell-ward plies.

Verse 6

Epode.

Verse 7

And are they of no more avail,

Ten thousand glitt'ring pounds a year?

In other worlds can Mammon fail,

Omnipotent as he is here?

O, bitter mock'ry of the pompous bier,

While down the wretched vital part is driv'n!

The cave-lodg'd beggar, with a conscience clear,

Expires in rags, unknown, and goes to Heav'n.

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), “Ode, sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Oswald”

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

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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

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