As I stood by yon roofless tower (Burns) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


As I stood by yon roofless tower,
  Where the wa'-flower scents the dewy air,
Where the houlet mourns in her ivy bower,
  And tells the midnight moon her care:

          Chorus:

A lassie all alone was making her moan,
  Lamenting our lads beyond the sea;
In the bluidy wars they fa', and our honor 's gane and a',
  And broken-hearted we maun die. -

The winds were laid, the air was still,
  The stars they shot alang the sky;
The tod was howling on the hill,
  And the distant-echoing glens reply. -
A lassie all alone was making her moan...

The burn, adown its hazelly path,
  Was rushing by the ruin'd wa',
Hasting to join the sweeping Nith
  Whase roarings seem'd to rise and fa'. -
A lassie all alone was making her moan...

The cauld, blae north was streaming forth
  Her lights, wi' hissing, eerie din;
Athort the lift they start and shift,
  Like Fortune's favors, tint as win. -
A lassie all alone was making her moan...

Now, looking over firth and fauld,
  Her horn the pale-fac'd Cynthia rear'd,
When, lo, in form of Minstrel auld,
  A stern and stalwart ghaist appear'd. -
A lassie all alone was making her moan...

And frae his harp sic strains did flow,
  Might rous'd the slumbering Dead to hear;
But Oh, it was a tale of woe,
  As ever met a Briton's ear. -
A lassie all alone was making her moan...

He sang wi' joy his former day,
  He weeping wail'd his latter times:
But what he said it was nae play,
  I winna ventur 't in my rhymes. -
A lassie all alone was making her moan...

Authorship

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

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Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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