---
title: "Elegy on the Death of Robert Ruisseaux"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1785"
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/elegy-on-the-death-of-robert-ruisseaux/"
---

# Elegy on the Death of Robert Ruisseaux

## Poem
Now Robin lies in his last lair,  
He’ll gabble rhyme, nor sing nae mair;  
Cauld poverty, wi’ hungry stare,  
Nae mair shall fear him;  
Nor anxious fear, nor cankert care,  
E’er mair come near him.

To tell the truth, they seldom fash’d him,  
Except the moment that they crush’d him;  
For sune as chance or fate had hush’d ’em  
Tho’ e’er sae short.  
Then wi’ a rhyme or sang he lash’d ’em,  
And thought it sport.

Tho’he was bred to kintra-wark,  
And counted was baith wight and stark,  
Yet that was never Robin’s mark  
To mak a man;  
But tell him, he was learn’d and clark,  
Ye roos’d him then!

## Footnotes
1. Ruisseaux is French for rivulets or “burns,” a translation of his name.

---

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/elegy-on-the-death-of-robert-ruisseaux/