Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

The Author's Farewell to his native Country

Robert Burns

“The Author's Farewell to his native Country” as printed in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887).

Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics Text 349 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

The gloomy night is gath'ring fast,

Loud roars the wild inconstant blast,

Yon murky cloud is foul with rain,

I see it driving o'er the plain;

The hunter now has left the moor,

The scatter'd coveys meet secure,

While here I wander, prest with care,

Along the lonely banks of Ayr.

Verse 2

The Autumn mourns her rip'ning corn

By early Winter's ravage torn;

Across her placid, azure sky,

She sees the scowling tempest fly:

Chill runs my blood to hear it rave,

I think upon the stormy wave,

Where many a danger I must dare,

Far from the bonie banks of Ayr.

Verse 3

'Tis not the surging billow's roar,

'Tis not that fatal, deadly shore;

Tho' death in ev'ry shape appear,

The wretched have no more to fear:

But round my heart the ties are bound,

That heart transpierc'd with many a wound:

These bleed afresh, those ties I tear,

To leave the bonie banks of Ayr.

Verse 4

Farewell, old Coila's hills and dales,

Her heathy moors and winding vales;

The scenes where wretched fancy roves,

Pursuing past, unhappy loves!

Farewell, my friends! Farewell, my foes!

My peace with these, my love with those—

The bursting tears my heart declare,

Farewell, the bonie banks of Ayr!

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), “The Author's Farewell to his native Country”

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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