---
title: "Duncan Davison"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1788"
location: "Mossgiel"
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/duncan-davison/"
---

# Duncan Davison

## Poem
There was a lass, they ca’d her Meg,  
And she held o’er the moors to spin;  
There was a lad that follow’d her,  
They ca’d him Duncan Davison.  
The moor was dreigh, and Meg was skeigh,  
Her favour Duncan could na win;  
For wi’ the rock she wad him knock,  
And aye she shook the temper-pin.

As o’er the moor they lightly foor,  
A burn was clear, a glen was green,  
Upon the banks they eas’d their shanks,  
And aye she set the wheel between:  
But Duncan swoor a haly aith,  
That Meg should be a bride the morn;  
Then Meg took up her spinning-graith,  
And flang them a’ out o’er the burn.

We will big a wee, wee house,  
And we will live like king and queen;  
Sae blythe and merry’s we will be,  
When ye set by the wheel at e’en.  
A man may drink, and no be drunk;  
A man may fight, and no be slain;  
A man may kiss a bonie lass,  
And aye be welcome back again!

---

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/duncan-davison/