Poetry Corner: A Red Red Rose

Perhaps the greatest love song ever written A Red Red Rose by Robert Burns has been translated into many languages. Here are just a few of them.

red roseO 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!

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  1. My own favourite of his love poems is……………

    The Gowden Locks Of Anna

    Yestreen I had a pint o’ wine,
    A place where body saw na;
    Yestreen lay on this breast o’ mine
    The gowden locks of Anna.

    The hungry Jew in wilderness,
    Rejoicing o’er his manna,
    Was naething to my hinny bliss
    Upon the lips of Anna.

    Ye monarchs, take the East and West
    Frae Indus to Savannah;
    Gie me, within my straining grasp,
    The melting form of Anna:

    There I’ll despise Imperial charms,
    An Empress or Sultana,
    While dying raptures in her arms
    I give and take wi’ Anna!

    Awa, thou flaunting God of Day!
    Awa, thou pale Diana!
    Ilk Star, gae hide thy twinkling ray,
    When I’m to meet my Anna!

    Come, in thy raven plumage, Night,
    (Sun, Moon, and Stars, withdrawn a’;)
    And bring an angel-pen to write
    My transports with my Anna!

    The Kirk an’ State may join an’ tell,
    To do sic things I maunna:
    The Kirk an’ State may gae to hell,
    And I’ll gae to my Anna.

    She is the sunshine o’ my e’e,
    To live but her I canna;
    Had I on earth but wishes three,
    The first should be my Anna.

    I’ve wondered if Robert Plant, of Led Zeppelin, knew of the red, red rose of the earlier Robert, when he wrote….

    “If the sun refused to shine
    I would still be loving you
    When mountains crumble to the sea
    There will still be you, and me.”

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