Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 274: The Gard’ner Wi’ His Paidle

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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.

The Gard’ner Wi’ His Paidle

Tune—“The Gardener’s March.”

When rosy May comes in wi’ flowers, To deck her gay, green-spreading bowers, Then busy, busy are his hours, The Gard’ner wi’ his paidle. The crystal waters gently fa’, The merry bards are lovers a’, The scented breezes round him blaw— The Gard’ner wi’ his paidle. When purple morning starts the hare To steal upon her early fare; Then thro’ the dews he maun repair— The Gard’ner wi’ his paidle. When day, expiring in the west, The curtain draws o’ Nature’s rest, He flies to her arms he lo’es the best, The Gard’ner wi’ his paidle.