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Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 340: What Can A Young Lassie Do Wi’ An Auld Man
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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.

What Can A Young Lassie Do Wi’ An Auld Man

What can a young lassie, what shall a young lassie, What can a young lassie do wi’ an auld man? Bad luck on the penny that tempted my minnie To sell her puir Jenny for siller an’ lan’. Bad luck on the penny that tempted my minnie To sell her puir Jenny for siller an’ lan’! He’s always compleenin’ frae mornin’ to e’enin’, He hoasts and he hirples the weary day lang; He’s doylt and he’s dozin, his blude it is frozen,— O, dreary’s the night wi’ a crazy auld man! He’s doylt and he’s dozin, his blude it is frozen, O, dreary’s the night wi’ a crazy auld man. He hums and he hankers, he frets and he cankers, I never can please him do a’ that I can; He’s peevish an’ jealous o’ a’ the young fellows,— O, dool on the day I met wi’ an auld man! He’s peevish an’ jealous o’ a’ the young fellows, O, dool on the day I met wi’ an auld man. My auld auntie Katie upon me taks pity, I’ll do my endeavour to follow her plan; I’ll cross him an’ wrack him, until I heartbreak him And then his auld brass will buy me a new pan, I’ll cross him an’ wrack him, until I heartbreak him, And then his auld brass will buy me a new pan.