Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 329: There’ll Never Be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame

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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.

There’ll Never Be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame

By yon Castle wa’, at the close of the day, I heard a man sing, tho’ his head it was grey: And as he was singing, the tears doon came,— There’ll never be peace till Jamie comes hame. The Church is in ruins, the State is in jars, Delusions, oppressions, and murderous wars, We dare na weel say’t, but we ken wha’s to blame,— There’ll never be peace till Jamie comes hame. My seven braw sons for Jamie drew sword, But now I greet round their green beds in the yerd; It brak the sweet heart o’ my faithful and dame,— There’ll never be peace till Jamie comes hame. Now life is a burden that bows me down, Sin’ I tint my bairns, and he tint his crown; But till my last moments my words are the same,— There’ll never be peace till Jamie comes hame.