How lang and dreary is the night


How lang and dreary is the night, When I am frae my dearie! I restless lie frae e'en to morn, Tho' I were ne'er sae weary. For O, her lanely nights are lang, And O, her dreams are eerie, And O, her widow'd heart is sair, That's absent frae her dearie! When I think on the lightsome days I spent wi' thee, my dearie, And now what seas between us roar, How can I be but eerie? For O, her lanely nights are lang, And O, her dreams are eerie, And O, her widow'd heart is sair, That's absent frae her dearie! How slow ye move, ye heavy hours! The joyless day how dreary! It was na sae ye glinted by, When I was wi' my dearie! For O, her lanely nights are lang, And O, her dreams are eerie, And O, her widow'd heart is sair, That's absent frae her dearie!

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Laura Fraser

About this work

This is a song by Robert Burns. It was written in 1794 and is read here by Laura Fraser.

Themes for this song

loveunhappinessanguish

Selected for 23 December

In yesterday's poem a young woman lamented the absence of her mariner love. Burns returned to that theme in the poem selected for today.

Donny O'Rourke

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