Songs and lyrics of Robert Burns

Chapter 43: COUNT THE LAWIN

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About This Book

A collected selection of the poet's songs and shorter lyrics presents his explorations of love, nature, rural Scottish life, patriotism, and social observation, often rendered in Scots dialect and intended for musical performance. The volume groups brief pieces alongside several longer poems, supplies a glossary of dialect terms and an index of first lines, and includes illustrative plates. Many lyrics evoke landscapes, domestic scenes, and communal gatherings, balancing tenderness and satire while varying tone from celebratory to elegiac. The arrangement favors lyrical vitality rather than strict chronology, offering readers both popular airs and more extended narrative poems within a single accessible anthology.

COUNT THE LAWIN

Gane is the day, and mirk’s the night,

But we’ll ne’er stray for faut o’ light,

For ale and brandy’s stars and moon,

And bluid-red wine’s the risin sun.

Then guidwife, count the lawin,

The lawin, the lawin,

Then guidwife, count the lawin,

And bring a coggie mair.

There’s wealth and ease for gentlemen,

And semple-folk maun fecht and fen’,

But here we’re a’ in ae accord,

For ilka man that’s drunk’s a lord.

My coggie is a haly pool,

That heals the wounds o’ care and dool;

And pleasure is a wanton trout,

An’ ye drink it a’ ye’ll find him out.