Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 416: Meg O’ The Mill

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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.

Meg O’ The Mill

O ken ye what Meg o’ the Mill has gotten, An’ ken ye what Meg o’ the Mill has gotten? She gotten a coof wi’ a claut o’ siller, And broken the heart o’ the barley Miller. The Miller was strappin, the Miller was ruddy; A heart like a lord, and a hue like a lady; The laird was a widdifu’, bleerit knurl; She’s left the gude fellow, and taen the churl. The Miller he hecht her a heart leal and loving, The lair did address her wi’ matter mair moving, A fine pacing-horse wi’ a clear chained bridle, A whip by her side, and a bonie side-saddle. O wae on the siller, it is sae prevailin’, And wae on the love that is fixed on a mailen! A tocher’s nae word in a true lover’s parle, But gie me my love, and a fig for the warl’!