Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Poor Mailie's Elegy

Robert Burns

“Poor Mailie's Elegy” as printed in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887).

Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics Text 307 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

Lament in rhyme, lament in prose,

Wi' saut tears trickling down your nose;

Our Bardie's fate is at a close,

Past a' remead;

The last, sad cape-stane o' his woes;

Poor Mailie's dead!

Verse 2

It's no the loss o' warl's gear,

That could sae bitter draw the tear,

Or make our Bardie, dowie, wear

The mourning weed:

He's lost a friend and neebor dear,

In Mailie dead.

Verse 3

Thro' a' the toun she trotted by him;

A lang half-mile she could descry him;

Wi' kindly bleat, when she did spy him,

She ran wi' speed:

A friend mair faithfu' ne'er cam nigh him,

Than Mailie dead.

Verse 4

I wat she was a sheep o' sense,

An' could behave hersel wi' mense;

I'll say't, she never brak a fence,

Thro' thievish greed.

Our Bardie. lanely, keeps the spence

Sin' Mailie's dead.

Verse 5

Or, if he wanders up the howe,

Her living image in her yowe,

Comes bleating to him, owre the knowe,

For bits o' bread;

An' down the briny pearls rowe

For Mailie dead.

Verse 6

She was nae get o' moorland tips,

Wi' tawted ket, an' hairy hips;

For her forbears were brought in ships,

Frae yont the Tweed:

A bonier fleesh ne'er cross'd the clips

Than Mailie dead.

Verse 7

Wae worth the man who first did shape

That vile, wanchancie thing—a rape!

It maks guid fellows girn an' gape,

Wi' chokin dread;

An' Robin's bonnet wave wi' crape,

For Mailie dead.

Verse 8

O, a' ye Bards on bonie Doon!

An' wha on Ayr your chanters tune!

Come, join the melancholious croon

O' Robin's reed!

His heart will never get aboon!

His Mailie's dead!

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), “Poor Mailie's Elegy”

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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