Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 501: Saw Ye My Dear, My Philly

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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.

Saw Ye My Dear, My Philly

Tune—“When she cam’ ben she bobbit.”

O saw ye my Dear, my Philly? O saw ye my Dear, my Philly, She’s down i’ the grove, she’s wi’ a new Love, She winna come hame to her Willy. What says she my dear, my Philly? What says she my dear, my Philly? She lets thee to wit she has thee forgot, And forever disowns thee, her Willy. O had I ne’er seen thee, my Philly! O had I ne’er seen thee, my Philly! As light as the air, and fause as thou’s fair, Thou’s broken the heart o’ thy Willy.