Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Song ("Their groves o' sweet myrtles let foreign lands reckon")

Robert Burns

“Song ("Their groves o' sweet myrtles let foreign lands reckon")” as printed in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887).

Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics Text 327 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

Their groves o' sweet myrtles let foreign lands reckon,

Where bright-beaming summers exalt their perfume;

Far dearer to me yon lone glen o' green breckan,

Wi' the burn stealing under the lang yellow broom.

Verse 2

Far dearer to me are yon humble broom bowers,

Where the blue-bell and gowan lurk lowly unseen:

For there, lightly tripping amang the wild flowers,

A listening the linnet, aft wanders my Jean.

Verse 3

Tho' rich is the breeze in their gay sunny valleys,

And cauld Caledonia's blast on the wave;

Their sweet-scented woodlands that skirt the proud palace,

What are they? The haunt of the tyrant and slave!

Verse 4

The slave's spicy forests, and gold-bubbling fountains,

The brave Caledonian views wi' disdain;

He wanders as free as the winds of his mountains,

Save love's willing fetters, the chains o' his Jean.

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), “Song ("Their groves o' sweet myrtles let foreign lands reckon")”

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.
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