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Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 210: Song—My Peggy’s Charms
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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—My Peggy’s Charms

Tune—“Tha a’ chailleach ir mo dheigh.”
My Peggy’s face, my Peggy’s form, The frost of hermit Age might warm; My Peggy’s worth, my Peggy’s mind, Might charm the first of human kind. I love my Peggy’s angel air, Her face so truly heavenly fair, Her native grace, so void of art, But I adore my Peggy’s heart. The lily’s hue, the rose’s dye, The kindling lustre of an eye; Who but owns their magic sway! Who but knows they all decay! The tender thrill, the pitying tear, The generous purpose nobly dear, The gentle look that rage disarms— These are all Immortal charms.