---
title: "The Slave’s Lament"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1792"
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/the-slaves-lament/"
---

# The Slave’s Lament

## Poem
It was in sweet Senegal that my foes did me enthral,  
For the lands of Virginia,—ginia, O:  
Torn from that lovely shore, and must never see it more;  
And alas! I am weary, weary O:  
Torn from that lovely shore, and must never see it more;  
And alas! I am weary, weary O.

All on that charming coast is no bitter snow and frost,  
Like the lands of Virginia,—ginia, O:  
There streams for ever flow, and there flowers for ever blow,  
And alas! I am weary, weary O:  
There streams for ever flow, and there flowers for ever blow,  
And alas! I am weary, weary O:

The burden I must bear, while the cruel scourge I fear,  
In the lands of Virginia,—ginia, O;  
And I think on friends most dear, with the bitter, bitter tear,  
And alas! I am weary, weary O:  
And I think on friends most dear, with the bitter, bitter tear,  
And alas! I am weary, weary O:

---

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/the-slaves-lament/