Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 249: My Bonie Mary

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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.

My Bonie Mary

Go, fetch to me a pint o’ wine, And fill it in a silver tassie; That I may drink before I go, A service to my bonie lassie. The boat rocks at the pier o’ Leith; Fu’ loud the wind blaws frae the Ferry; The ship rides by the Berwick-law, And I maun leave my bonie Mary. The trumpets sound, the banners fly, The glittering spears are ranked ready: The shouts o’ war are heard afar, The battle closes deep and bloody; It’s not the roar o’ sea or shore, Wad mak me langer wish to tarry! Nor shouts o’ war that’s heard afar— It’s leaving thee, my bonie Mary!