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Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 388: O Can Ye Labour Lea?
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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.

O Can Ye Labour Lea?

Chorus—O can ye labour lea, young man, O can ye labour lea? It fee nor bountith shall us twine Gin ye can labour lea. I fee’d a man at Michaelmas, Wi’ airle pennies three; But a’ the faut I had to him, He could na labour lea, O can ye labour lea, &c. O clappin’s gude in Febarwar, An’ kissin’s sweet in May; But my delight’s the ploughman lad, That weel can labour lea, O can ye labour lea, &c. O kissin is the key o’ luve, And clappin’ is the lock; An’ makin’ o’s the best thing yet, That e’er a young thing gat. O can ye labour lea, &c.