Famous Braw Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Braw poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous braw poems. These examples illustrate what a famous braw poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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Mary Morison

by Robert Burns
 O Mary, at thy window be,
It is the wished, the trysted hour!
Those smiles and glances let me see,
That make the miser's treasure poor:
How blythely wad I bide the stour,
A weary slave frae sun to sun,
Could I the rich reward secure,
The lovely Mary Morison.

Yestreen, when to the trembling string
The dance gaed thro' the lighted ha',
To thee my fancy took its...Read more of this...

1. Song—Handsome Nell

by Robert Burns
 O ONCE I lov’d a bonie lass,
 Ay, and I love her still;
And whilst that virtue warms my breast,
 I’ll love my handsome Nell.


As bonie lasses I hae seen,
 And mony full as braw;
But, for a modest gracefu’ mein,
 The like I never saw.


A bonie lass, I will confess,
 Is pleasant to the e’e;
But, without some better qualities,
 She’s...Read more of this...

288. Song—The Braes o' Killiecrankie

by Robert Burns
 WHERE hae ye been sae braw, lad?
 Whare hae ye been sae brankie, O?
Whare hae ye been sae braw, lad?
 Cam ye by Killiecrankie, O?


Chorus.—An ye had been whare I hae been,
 Ye wad na been sae cantie, O;
An ye had seen what I hae seen,
 I’ the Braes o’ Killiecrankie, O.


I faught at land, I faught at sea,
...Read more of this...

83. The Cotter's Saturday Night

by Robert Burns
 MY lov’d, my honour’d, much respected friend!
 No mercenary bard his homage pays;
With honest pride, I scorn each selfish end,
 My dearest meed, a friend’s esteem and praise:
 To you I sing, in simple Scottish lays,
The lowly train in life’s sequester’d scene,
 The native feelings strong, the guileless ways,
What Aiken in a cottage would have been;
Ah! tho’ his worth...Read more of this...

367. Song—When she cam ben she bobbed

by Robert Burns
 O WHEN she cam’ ben she bobbed fu’ law,
 O when she cam’ ben she bobbed fu’ law,
And when she cam’ ben, she kiss’d Cockpen,
 And syne denied she did it at a’.


 And was na Cockpen right saucy witha’?
 And was na Cockpen right saucy witha’?
In leaving the daughter of a lord,
 And kissin’ a collier lassie an’...Read more of this...

10. The Ronalds of the Bennals

by Robert Burns
 IN Tarbolton, ye ken, there are proper young men,
 And proper young lasses and a’, man;
But ken ye the Ronalds that live in the Bennals,
 They carry the gree frae them a’, man.


Their father’s laird, and weel he can spare’t,
 Braid money to tocher them a’, man;
To proper young men, he’ll clink in the hand
 Gowd guineas a hunder...Read more of this...

68. The Holy Fair

by Robert Burns
 UPON 1 a simmer Sunday morn
 When Nature’s face is fair,
I walked forth to view the corn,
 An’ snuff the caller air.
The rising sun owre Galston muirs
 Wi’ glorious light was glintin;
The hares were hirplin down the furrs,
 The lav’rocks they were chantin
 Fu’ sweet that day.


As lightsomely I glowr’d abroad,
 To see a scene sae gay,
Three hizzies, early...Read more of this...

A Song For Kilts

by Robert William Service
 How grand the human race would be
 If every man would wear a kilt,
A flirt of Tartan finery,
 Instead of trousers, custom built!
Nay, do not think I speak to joke:
 (You know I'm not that kind of man),
I am convinced that all men folk.
 Should wear the costume of a Clan.

Imagine how it's braw and clean
 As in the...Read more of this...

394. Song—Braw Lads o' Gala Water

by Robert Burns
 BRAW, braw lads on Yarrow-braes,
 They rove amang the blooming heather;
But Yarrow braes, nor Ettrick shaws
 Can match the lads o’ Galla Water.


But there is ane, a secret ane,
 Aboon them a’ I loe him better;
And I’ll be his, and he’ll be mine,
 The bonie lad o’ Galla Water.


Altho’ his daddie was nae laird,
 And tho’ I hae nae...Read more of this...

71. Second Epistle to Davie

by Robert Burns
 AULD NEIBOUR,I’m three times doubly o’er your debtor,
For your auld-farrant, frien’ly letter;
Tho’ I maun say’t I doubt ye flatter,
 Ye speak sae fair;
For my puir, silly, rhymin clatter
 Some less maun sair.


Hale be your heart, hale be your fiddle,
Lang may your elbuck jink diddle,
To cheer you thro’ the weary widdle
 O’ war’ly cares;
Till barins’ barins kindly cuddle
 Your auld...Read more of this...

The Ballad Of How Macpherson Held The Floor

by Robert William Service
 Said President MacConnachie to Treasurer MacCall:
"We ought to have a piper for our next Saint Andrew's Ball.
Yon squakin' saxophone gives me the syncopated gripes.
I'm sick of jazz, I want to hear the skirling of the pipes."
"Alas! it's true," said Tam MacCall. "The young folk of to-day
Are fox-trot mad and dinna ken a reel from Strathspey.
Now, what we want's a...Read more of this...

273. Song—Tam Glen

by Robert Burns
 MY heart is a-breaking, dear Tittie,
 Some counsel unto me come len’,
To anger them a’ is a pity,
 But what will I do wi’ Tam Glen?


I’m thinking, wi’ sic a braw fellow,
 In poortith I might mak a fen;
What care I in riches to wallow,
 If I maunna marry Tam Glen!


There’s Lowrie the Laird o’ Dumeller—
 “Gude day to...Read more of this...

221. Song—The Bonie Lad that's Far Awa

by Robert Burns
 O HOW can I be blythe and glad,
 Or how can I gang brisk and braw,
When the bonie lad that I lo’e best
 Is o’er the hills and far awa!


It’s no the frosty winter wind,
 It’s no the driving drift and snaw;
But aye the tear comes in my e’e,
 To think on him that’s far awa.


My father pat me...Read more of this...

46. The Belles of Mauchline

by Robert Burns
 IN Mauchline there dwells six proper young belles,
 The pride of the place and its neighbourhood a’;
Their carriage and dress, a stranger would guess,
 In Lon’on or Paris, they’d gotten it a’.


Miss Miller is fine, Miss Markland’s divine,
 Miss Smith she has wit, and Miss Betty is braw:
There’s beauty and fortune to get wi’ Miss Morton,
 But Armour’s the...Read more of this...

90. Epistle to James Smith

by Robert Burns
 DEAR SMITH, the slee’st, pawkie thief,
That e’er attempted stealth or rief!
Ye surely hae some warlock-brief
 Owre human hearts;
For ne’er a bosom yet was prief
 Against your arts.


For me, I swear by sun an’ moon,
An’ ev’ry star that blinks aboon,
Ye’ve cost me twenty pair o’ shoon,
 Just gaun to see you;
An’ ev’ry ither pair that’s done,
 Mair taen I’m wi’...Read more of this...

328. Poem on Pastoral Poetry

by Robert Burns
 HAIL, Poesie! thou Nymph reserv’d!
In chase o’ thee, what crowds hae swerv’d
Frae common sense, or sunk enerv’d
 ’Mang heaps o’ clavers:
And och! o’er aft thy joes hae starv’d,
 ’Mid a’ thy favours!


Say, Lassie, why, thy train amang,
While loud the trump’s heroic clang,
And sock or buskin skelp alang
 To death or marriage;
Scarce ane has tried the shepherd-sang
 But wi’ miscarriage?


In...Read more of this...

The Fall of Jock Gillespie

by Rudyard Kipling
 This fell when dinner-time was done --
 'Twixt the first an' the second rub --
That oor mon Jock cam' hame again
 To his rooms ahist the Club.

An' syne he laughed, an' syne he sang,
 An' syne we thocht him fou,
An' syne he trumped his partner's trick,
 An' garred his partner rue.

Then up and spake an elder mon,
 That held...Read more of this...

59. Death and Dr. Hornbook

by Robert Burns
 SOME books are lies frae end to end,
And some great lies were never penn’d:
Ev’n ministers they hae been kenn’d,
 In holy rapture,
A rousing whid at times to vend,
 And nail’t wi’ Scripture.


But this that I am gaun to tell,
Which lately on a night befell,
Is just as true’s the Deil’s in hell
 Or Dublin city:
That e’er he nearer comes oursel’
...Read more of this...

535. Song—The Braw Wooer

by Robert Burns
 LAST May, a braw wooer cam doun the lang glen,
 And sair wi’ his love he did deave me;
I said, there was naething I hated like men—
 The deuce gae wi’m, to believe me, believe me;
 The deuce gae wi’m to believe me.


He spak o’ the darts in my bonie black e’en,
 And vow’d for my love he was...Read more of this...

376. Song—The Deil's awa wi' the Exciseman

by Robert Burns
 THE DEIL cam fiddlin’ thro’ the town,
 And danc’d awa wi’ th’ Exciseman,
And ilka wife cries, “Auld Mahoun,
 I wish you luck o’ the prize, man.”


Chorus.—The deil’s awa, the deil’s awa,
 The deil’s awa wi’ the Exciseman,
He’s danc’d awa, he’s danc’d awa,
 He’s danc’d awa wi’ the Exciseman.


We’ll mak our maut, and we’ll brew our drink,
 We’ll laugh, sing,...Read more of this...

256. Song—Beware o' Bonie Ann

by Robert Burns
 YE gallants bright, I rede you right,
 Beware o’ bonie Ann;
Her comely face sae fu’ o’ grace,
 Your heart she will trepan:
Her een sae bright, like stars by night,
 Her skin sae like the swan;
Sae jimply lac’d her genty waist,
 That sweetly ye might span.


Youth, Grace, and Love attendant move,
 And pleasure leads the van:
In a’ their charms, and...Read more of this...

113. A Dedication to Gavin Hamilton Esq

by Robert Burns
 EXPECT na, sir, in this narration,
A fleechin, fleth’rin Dedication,
To roose you up, an’ ca’ you guid,
An’ sprung o’ great an’ noble bluid,
Because ye’re surnam’d like His Grace—
Perhaps related to the race:
Then, when I’m tir’d-and sae are ye,
Wi’ mony a fulsome, sinfu’ lie,
Set up a face how I stop short,
For fear your modesty be hurt.


 This may do—maun do, sir,...Read more of this...

The Whistle Of Sandy McGraw

by Robert William Service
 You may talk o' your lutes and your dulcimers fine,
 Your harps and your tabors and cymbals and a',
But here in the trenches jist gie me for mine
 The wee penny whistle o' Sandy McGraw.
Oh, it's: "Sandy, ma lad, will you lilt us a tune?"
 And Sandy is willin' and trillin' like mad;
Sae silvery sweet that we a' throng...Read more of this...

87. The Twa Dogs

by Robert Burns
 ’TWAS 1 in that place o’ Scotland’s isle,
That bears the name o’ auld King Coil,
Upon a bonie day in June,
When wearin’ thro’ the afternoon,
Twa dogs, that were na thrang at hame,
Forgather’d ance upon a time.
 The first I’ll name, they ca’d him Caesar,
Was keepit for His Honor’s pleasure:
His hair, his size, his mouth, his lugs,
Shew’d he was nane o’...Read more of this...

69. Third Epistle to J. Lapraik

by Robert Burns
 GUID speed and furder to you, Johnie,
Guid health, hale han’s, an’ weather bonie;
Now, when ye’re nickin down fu’ cannie
 The staff o’ bread,
May ye ne’er want a stoup o’ bran’y
 To clear your head.


May Boreas never thresh your rigs,
Nor kick your rickles aff their legs,
Sendin the stuff o’er muirs an’ haggs
 Like drivin wrack;
But may the tapmost grain that...Read more of this...

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