---
title: "Fairest Maid on Devon Banks"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Song"
year: "1796"
tune: "Rothiemurchie"
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/fairest-maid-on-devon-banks/"
---

# Fairest Maid on Devon Banks

## Song
*Chorus*  
Fairest maid on Devon banks,  
Crystal Devon, winding Devon,  
Wilt thou lay that frown aside,  
And smile as thou wert wont to do?

Full well thou know’st I love thee dear,  
Couldst thou to malice lend an ear!  
O did not Love exclaim: “Forbear,  
Nor use a faithful lover so.”

*Chorus*  
Fairest maid on Devon banks,  
Crystal Devon, winding Devon,  
Wilt thou lay that frown aside,  
And smile as thou wert wont to do?

Then come, thou fairest of the fair,  
Those wonted smiles, O let me share;  
And by thy beauteous self I swear,  
No love but thine my heart shall know.

*Chorus*  
Fairest maid on Devon banks,  
Crystal Devon, winding Devon,  
Wilt thou lay that frown aside,  
And smile as thou wert wont to do?

---

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/fairest-maid-on-devon-banks/