Poetry - Lizzie Lindsay by Robbie Burns

Today being Burns Day, we reproduce a piece of the famous Scottish bard’s work.

Part poetry, part ballad, Lizzie Lindsay tells the story of the Scottish Highland Lord wooing the pretty maiden from Edinburgh to come with him to the Highlands, against the wishes of her family. A reversal of the tale told in our own Raggle Taggle Gypsy, where the Lady of the house absconds with the ragamuffin gypsy.

"Will ye gang tae the hielands, Lizzie Lindsay,
Will ye gang tae the hielands wi' me?
Will ye gang tae the hielands, Lizzie Lindsay,
My bride and my darling to be?"

Then I spoke tae Lizzie's old mother,
And a cantie old body was she,
"Mon, if I was as young as my daughter,
I'd gang tae the hielands wi' thee."

Then I spoke tae Lizzie's wee sister,
And a bonnie wee lassie was she,
"Mon, if I was as old as my sister,
I'd gang tae the hielands wi' thee."

"But to gang to the hielands wi' you, sir,
I dinna ken who that may be,
For I ken no' the land that you live in,
Nor I ken no' the lad I'm goin' wi'."

"Oh, Lizzie, I you maun ken little,
When I see that you dinna ken me,
My name is Lord Ranald McDonald,
I'm the chief of the highland degree."

So she kilted her coats of green satin,
And she kilted them up to her knee,
And she's of wi' Lord Ranald McDonald
His bride and his darling tae be.

In reading a bit about Robbie Burns and this particular piece, a small cross-over appear into my own memories:

Burns was born in 1759 in Ayr, a town which by the sheerest of coincidences Mise le Meas, Chelski and I (along with Clifford Barbados Nolan) spent a night in back in 1983 on the return journey from the Ireland Scotland rugby international.

Like Burns, we had a very keen interest in drink and revelry during our stay in his hometown.