A Portrait of Robert Burns Robert Burns

1788 · Song

Of a’ the Airts the Wind Can Blaw

Tune ·  Miss Admiral Gordon’s Strathspey

Of a’ the airts the wind can blaw,I dearly like the west,For there the bonie lassie lives,The lassie I lo’e best:
There’s wild-woods grow, and rivers row,And mony a hill between:But day and night my fancys’ flightIs ever wi’ my Jean.
I see her in the dewy flowers,I see her sweet and fair:I hear her in the tunefu’ birds,I hear her charm the air:There’s not a bonie flower that springs,By fountain, shaw, or green;There’s not a bonie bird that sings,But minds me o’ my Jean.

Footnotes

  1. 1. Written during a separation from Mrs. Burns in their honeymoon. Burns was preparing a home at Ellisland; Mrs. Burns was at Mossgiel.—Lang.
Year
1788
Form
Song
Location
Mossgiel
Tune
Miss Admiral Gordon’s Strathspey
Source
Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns