Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

The Blue-eyed Lassie

Robert Burns

“The Blue-eyed Lassie” as printed in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887).

Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics Text 357 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

I gaed a waefu' gate yestreen,

A gate, I fear, I'll dearly rue;

I gat my death frae twa sweet een,

Twa lovely een o' bonie blue.

'Twas not her golden ringlets bright,

Her lips like roses wat wi' dew,

Her heaving bosom lily-white;—

It was her een sae bonie blue.

Verse 2

She talk'd, she smil'd, my heart she wyl'd,

She charm'd my soul I wist na how;

And aye the stound, the deadly wound,

Cam frae her een sae bonie blue.

But spare to speak, and spare to speed;

She'll aiblins listen to my vow:

Should she refuse, I'll lay my dead

To her twa een sae bonie blue.

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 Blue-eyed Lassie”

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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