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O Saw ye bonie Lesley


 O saw ye bonie Lesley, As she gaed o'er the Border? She's gane, like Alexander, To spread her conquests farther. To see her is to love her, And love but her for ever; For Nature made her what she is And never made anither. Thou art a queen, fair Lesley, Thy subjects we, before thee: Thou art divine, fair Lesley, The hearts o' men adore thee. The deil he could na scaith thee, Or aught that wad belang thee: He'd look into thy bonie face, And say, 'I canna wrang thee!' The Powers aboon will tent thee, Misfortune sha'na steer thee; Thou'rt like themsels sae lovely, That ill they'll ne'er let near thee. Return again, fair Lesley, Return to Caledonie! That we may brag we hae a lass There's nane again sae bonie.

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Derek Riddell

About this work

This is a song by Robert Burns. It was written in 1792 and is read here by Derek Riddell.

Themes for this song

lovewomanbeauty

Selected for 22 August

Burns called the subject of today’s selection, 'the most beautiful, elegant woman in the world'. In a letter of August 22nd, to his confidante, Mrs Dunlop, he gushes that he is in love, 'over head and ears, deep as the most unfathomable abyss of the boundless ocean...'. The poet composed the song after a day spent in the company of Miss Bailey and her father and sister on their way to England. He never saw her again. A monument to Bonie Lesley stands in Stevenson, Ayrshire. Her original memorial however, is the song its author believed to be, 'one of the finest songs I ever made in my life'.

Donny O'Rourke

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