---
title: "How Cruel Are the Parents"
subtitle: "Altered from an old English song"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Song"
year: "1795"
tune: "John Anderson, my jo"
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/how-cruel-are-the-parents/"
---

# How Cruel Are the Parents

### Altered from an old English song

## Song
How cruel are the parents  
Who riches only prize,  
And to the wealthy booby  
Poor Woman sacrifice!  
Meanwhile, the hapless Daughter  
Has but a choice of strife;  
To shun a tyrant Father’s hate—  
Become a wretched Wife.

The ravening hawk pursuing,  
The trembling dove thus flies,  
To shun impelling ruin,  
Awhile her pinions tries;  
Till, of escape despairing,  
No shelter or retreat,  
She trusts the ruthless Falconer,  
And drops beneath his feet.

---

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/how-cruel-are-the-parents/