A Portrait of Robert Burns Robert Burns

1789 · Poem

A Waukrife Minnie


Whare are you gaun, my bonie lass,Whare are you gaun, my hinnie?She answered me right saucilie,“An errand for my minnie.”4
O whare live ye, my bonie lass,O whare live ye, my hinnie?“By yon burnside, gin ye maun ken,In a wee house wi’ my minnie.”8
But I foor up the glen at e’en.To see my bonie lassie;And lang before the grey morn cam,She was na hauf sae saucie.12
O weary fa’ the waukrife cock,And the foumart lay his crawin!He wauken’d the auld wife frae her sleep,A wee blink or the dawin.16
An angry wife I wat she raise,And o’er the bed she brocht her;And wi’ a meikle hazel rungShe made her a weel-pay’d dochter.20
O fare thee weel, my bonie lass,O fare thee well, my hinnie!Thou art a gay an’ a bonnie lass,But thou has a waukrife minnie.24
Year
1789
Form
Poem
Location
Ellisland
Source
Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns