---
title: "Lines Written on a Banknote"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1786"
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/lines-written-on-a-banknote/"
---

# Lines Written on a Banknote

## Poem
Wae worth thy power, thou cursed leaf!  
Fell source o’ a’ my woe and grief!  
For lack o’ thee I’ve lost my lass!  
For lack o’ thee I scrimp my glass!  
I see the children of affliction  
Unaided, through thy curst restriction:  
I’ve seen the oppressor’s cruel smile  
Amid his hapless victim’s spoil;  
And for thy potence vainly wished,  
To crush the villain in the dust:  
For lack o’ thee, I leave this much-lov’d shore,  
Never, perhaps, to greet old Scotland more.

R.B.

---

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/lines-written-on-a-banknote/