---
title: "Why, Why Tell the Lover"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Song"
year: "1795"
tune: "Caledonian Hunt’s delight"
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/why-why-tell-the-lover/"
---

# Why, Why Tell the Lover

## Song
Why, why tell thy lover  
Bliss he never must enjoy?  
Why, why undeceive him,  
And give all his hopes the lie?  
O why, while fancy, raptur’d slumbers,  
Chloris, Chloris all the theme,  
Why, why would’st thou, cruel—  
Wake thy lover from his dream?

---

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/why-why-tell-the-lover/