A Red, Red Rose
Robert Burns · 1794 · 16 lines
“My luve is like a red, red rose”
This is a song, not a poem. Burns wrote it to an existing air and meant it sung, which is why the lines are the length they are.
Another one Burns gathered rather than invented, built from scraps of older songs and set to the tune "Major Graham". He knew exactly what he had: he called it a simple old Scots song which he had picked up in the country. Sixteen lines, one image, and the whole thing turns on the last verse, where the lover leaves anyway.
O my Luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June:
O my Luve’s like the melodie,
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve!
And fare-thee-weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho’ ’twere ten thousand mile!
The Scots in this one
7 words, from the glossary Burns's own editions carried. On a wide screen these also sit in the margin beside the line they belong to; on a small one, tap any dotted word.
- bonie
- bonnie, pretty, beautiful
- luve
- love
- till
- to, until
- a'
- all
- gang
- to go
- wi'
- with
- o'
- of