Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 397: My Wife’s A Winsome Wee Thing

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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 Wife’s A Winsome Wee Thing

Air—“My Wife’s a Wanton Wee Thing.”

Chorus.—She is a winsome wee thing, She is a handsome wee thing, She is a lo’esome wee thing, This dear wee wife o’ mine. I never saw a fairer, I never lo’ed a dearer, And neist my heart I’ll wear her, For fear my jewel tine, She is a winsome, &c. The warld’s wrack we share o’t; The warstle and the care o’t; Wi’ her I’ll blythely bear it, And think my lot divine. She is a winsome, &c.