---
title: "Blythe Hae I been on Yon Hill"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Song"
year: "1793"
tune: "The Quaker’s Wife"
location: "Dumfries"
source: "Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns"
source_url: "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt"
canonical_url: "https://robert-burns.com/poems/blythe-hae-i-been-on-yon-hill/"
---

# Blythe Hae I been on Yon Hill

## Song
Blythe hae I been on yon hill,  
As the lambs before me;  
Careless ilka thought and free,  
As the breeze flew o’er me;  
Now nae langer sport and play,  
Mirth or sang can please me;  
Lesley is sae fair and coy,  
Care and anguish seize me.

Heavy, heavy is the task,  
Hopeless love declaring;  
Trembling, I dow nocht but glow’r,  
Sighing, dumb despairing!  
If she winna ease the thraws  
In my bosom swelling,  
Underneath the grass-green sod,  
Soon maun be my dwelling.

---

Source: [Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt)  
Canonical HTML: https://robert-burns.com/poems/blythe-hae-i-been-on-yon-hill/