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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  504. Lament for Culloden

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Robert Burns. 1759–1796

504. Lament for Culloden

THE lovely lass o’ Inverness, 
  Nae joy nor pleasure can she see; 
For e’en and morn she cries, ‘Alas!’ 
  And aye the saut tear blin’s her e’e: 
‘Drumossie moor, Drumossie day,         5
  A waefu’ day it was to me! 
For there I lost my father dear, 
  My father dear and brethren three. 
 
‘Their winding-sheet the bluidy clay, 
  Their graves are growing green to see;  10
And by them lies the dearest lad 
  That ever blest a woman’s e’e! 
Now wae to thee, thou cruel lord, 
  A bluidy man I trow thou be; 
For monie a heart thou hast made sair,  15
  That ne’er did wrang to thine or thee.’