---
title: "“I’ll Go and Be a Sodger”"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1782"
location: "Lochlea"
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/ill-go-and-be-a-sodger/"
---

# “I’ll Go and Be a Sodger”

## Poem
O why the deuce should I repine,  
And be an ill foreboder?  
I’m twenty-three, and five feet nine,  
I’ll go and be a sodger!

I gat some gear wi’ mickle care,  
I held it weel thegither;  
But now it’s gane, and something mair—  
I’ll go and be a sodger!

---

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/ill-go-and-be-a-sodger/