by
Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
I gaed a waefu' gate yestreen
Language: Scottish (Scots)
I gaed a waefu' gate yestreen,
A gate I fear I'll dearly rue:
I gat my death frae twa sweet een,
Twa lovely een o' bonie blue!
'Twas not her golden ringlets bright,
Her lips like roses wat wi' dew,
Her heaving bosom lily-white:
It was her een sae bonie blue.
She talk'd, she smil'd, my heart she wyl'd,
She charm'd my soul I wist na how;
And ay the stound, the deadly wound,
Cam frae her een sae bonie blue.
But 'spare to speak, and spare to speed' -
She'll aiblins listen to my vow:
Should she refuse, I'll lay my dead
To her twa een sae bonie blue.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• J. Haydn About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with
The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 230.
Glossary:
Blathrie = nonsense
Gate = road
Een = eyes
Wyl'd = beguiled by flattery
Wist = knew
Stound = ache, pain
Aiblins = perhaps
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810 - 1876) , appears in Gedichte, in Robert Burns. Elf Lieder [later 13 Lieder], no. 5, first published 1838 ; composed by Louis Ehlert, Robert Franz, Adolf Jensen, Heinrich August Marschner.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Bartsch , "Das blauäugige Mädchen", appears in Robert Burns' Lieder und Balladen, in Liebe ; composed by Wilhelm Kleinecke.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Chrpové oči"
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2006-04-05
Line count: 16
Word count: 109
J'ai suivi la nuit dernière un bien...
Language: French (Français) after the Scottish (Scots)
J'ai suivi la nuit dernière un bien triste chemin,
Un chemin que je crains de regretter amèrement :
J'ai reçu la mort de deux yeux doux,
Deux yeux charmants d'un beau bleu !
Ce n'étaient pas ses boucles d'or clair,
Ses lèvres comme des roses humides de rosée,
Son sein arrondi blanc comme le lis :
C'étaient ses yeux d'un si beau bleu.
Elle parla, elle sourit, elle envoûta mon cœur,
Elle charma mon âme, je ne sais comment ;
Et toujours la douleur, la blessure mortelle
Venait de ses yeux d'un si beau bleu.
Mais « faute de parler on manque son coup »
Peut-être écoutera-t-elle mon serment :
Si elle refuse, je mettrai ma mort
Sur le compte de ses deux yeux d'un si beau bleu.
About the headline (FAQ)
Title "The blue-eyed lassie" = "La fille aux yeux bleus"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Scottish (Scots) to French (Français) copyright © 2014 by Pierre Mathé, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in Scottish (Scots) by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "The blue-eyed lassie"
This text was added to the website: 2014-09-22
Line count: 16
Word count: 123