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Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 14: Song—Here’s To Thy Health
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About This Book

The collection assembles lyrical songs, narrative poems, satirical pieces, epistles, epitaphs, and fragments that shift between convivial drinking verses, tender laments, and comic storytelling. Many lyrics were shaped to traditional airs and preserve vernacular speech, while longer works portray rural labor, domestic scenes, and compassionate encounters with animals. Satire targets religious hypocrisy and social pretension, and several poems take a direct, personal tone of moral reflection or affectionate address. The selections alternate moods and forms, emphasizing melodic phrasing and a versatile technical range.

Song—Here’s To Thy Health

Tune—“Laggan Burn.”
Here’s to thy health, my bonie lass, Gude nicht and joy be wi’ thee; I’ll come nae mair to thy bower-door, To tell thee that I lo’e thee. O dinna think, my pretty pink, But I can live without thee: I vow and swear I dinna care, How lang ye look about ye. Thou’rt aye sae free informing me, Thou hast nae mind to marry; I’ll be as free informing thee, Nae time hae I to tarry: I ken thy frien’s try ilka means Frae wedlock to delay thee; Depending on some higher chance, But fortune may betray thee. I ken they scorn my low estate, But that does never grieve me; For I’m as free as any he; Sma’ siller will relieve me. I’ll count my health my greatest wealth, Sae lang as I’ll enjoy it; I’ll fear nae scant, I’ll bode nae want, As lang’s I get employment. But far off fowls hae feathers fair, And, aye until ye try them, Tho’ they seem fair, still have a care; They may prove waur than I am. But at twal’ at night, when the moon shines bright, My dear, I’ll come and see thee; For the man that loves his mistress weel, Nae travel makes him weary.