Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

  1793
  poortith cauld and restless love
  tune—“cauld kail in aberdeen.”
  o poortith cauld, and restless love,
  ye wrack my peace between ye;
  yet poortith a' i could forgive,
  an 'twere na for my jeanie.
  chorus—o why should fate sic pleasure have,
  life's dearest bands untwining?
  or why sae sweet a flower as love
  depend on fortune's shining?
  the warld's wealth, when i think on,
  it's pride and a' the lave o't;
  o fie on silly coward man,
  that he should be the slave o't!
  o why, c.
  her e'en, sae bonie blue, betray
  how she repays my passion;
  but prudence is her o'erword aye,
  she talks o' rank and fashion.
  o why, c.
  o wha can prudence think upon,
  and sic a lassie by him?
  o wha can prudence think upon,
  and sae in love as i am?
  o why, c.
  how blest the simple cotter's fate!
  he woos his artless dearie;
  the silly bogles, wealth and state,
  can never make him eerie,
  o why, c.