A Portrait of Robert Burns Robert Burns

1789 · Poem

I Gaed a Waefu’ Gate Yestreen


I gaed a waefu’ gate yestreen,A gate, I fear, I’ll dearly rue;I gat my death frae twa sweet een,Twa lovely een o’bonie blue.
’Twas not her golden ringlets bright,Her lips like roses wat wi’ dew,Her heaving bosom, lily-white—It was her een sae bonie blue.
She talk’d, she smil’d, my heart she wyl’d;She charm’d my soul I wist na how;And aye the stound, the deadly wound,Cam frae her een so bonie blue.But “spare to speak, and spare to speed;”She’ll aiblins listen to my vow:Should she refuse, I’ll lay my deadTo her twa een sae bonie blue.
Year
1789
Form
Poem
Location
Ellisland
Source
Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns