Famous Sae Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Gowk

by William Soutar
Half doun the hill, whaur fa's the linn
Far frae the flaught o' fowk, 
I saw upon a lanely whin 
A lanely singin' gowk: 
Cuckoo, cuckoo; 
And at my back 
The howie hill stüde up and spak: 
Cuckoo, cuckoo. 

There was nae soun':  the loupin' linn
Was frostit in its fa': 
Nae bird was on the lanely whin 
Sae white wi’...Read more of this...

Day is Düne

by William Soutar
Lully, lully, my ain wee dearie:
Lully, lully, my ain wee doo:
Sae far awa and peerieweerie
Is the hurlie o' the world noo.

And a' the noddin pows are weary;
And a' the fitterin feet come in:
Lully, lully, my ain wee dearie,
The darg is owre and the day is düne.

...Read more of this...

94. Here's his Health in Water

by Robert Burns
 ALTHO’ my back be at the wa’,
 And tho’ he be the fautor;
Altho’ my back be at the wa’,
 Yet, here’s his health in water.
O wae gae by his wanton sides,
 Sae brawlie’s he could flatter;
Till for his sake I’m slighted sair,
 And dree the kintra clatter:
But tho’ my back be at the wa’,
 And tho’ he be the...Read more of this...

364. Song—I do confess thou art sae fair

by Robert Burns
 I DO confess thou art sae fair,
 I was been o’er the lugs in luve,
Had I na found the slightest prayer
 That lips could speak thy heart could muve.


I do confess thee sweet, but find
 Thou art so thriftless o’ thy sweets,
Thy favours are the silly wind
 That kisses ilka thing it meets.


See yonder rosebud, rich in dew,
 Amang...Read more of this...

6. The Tarbolton Lasses

by Robert Burns
 IF ye gae up to yon hill-tap,
 Ye’ll there see bonie Peggy;
She kens her father is a laird,
 And she forsooth’s a leddy.


There Sophy tight, a lassie bright,
 Besides a handsome fortune:
Wha canna win her in a night,
 Has little art in courtin’.


Gae down by Faile, and taste the ale,
 And tak a look o’ Mysie;
She’s dour and din,...Read more of this...

99. To a Louse

by Robert Burns
 HA! whaur ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie?
Your impudence protects you sairly;
I canna say but ye strunt rarely,
 Owre gauze and lace;
Tho’, faith! I fear ye dine but sparely
 On sic a place.


Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,
Detested, shunn’d by saunt an’ sinner,
How daur ye set your fit upon her—
 Sae fine a lady?
Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner
 On...Read more of this...

250. Song—She's Fair and Fause

by Robert Burns
 SHE’S fair and fause that causes my smart,
 I lo’ed her meikle and lang;
She’s broken her vow, she’s broken my heart,
 And I may e’en gae hang.
A coof cam in wi’ routh o’ gear,
And I hae tint my dearest dear;
But Woman is but warld’s gear,
 Sae let the bonie lass gang.


Whae’er ye be that woman love,
 To this be...Read more of this...

417. Song—Blythe hae I been on yon hill

by Robert Burns
 BLYTHE hae I been on yon hill,
 As the lambs before me;
Careless ilka thought and free,
 As the breeze flew o’er me;
Now nae langer sport and play,
 Mirth or sang can please me;
LESLEY is sae fair and coy,
 Care and anguish seize me.


Heavy, heavy is the task,
 Hopeless love declaring;
Trembling, I dow nocht but glow’r,
 Sighing, dumb despairing!
If she...Read more of this...

492. Dialogue Song—Philly and Willy

by Robert Burns
 He. O PHILLY, happy be that day,
When roving thro’ the gather’d hay,
My youthfu’ heart was stown away,
 And by thy charms, my Philly.
She. O Willy, aye I bless the grove
Where first I own’d my maiden love,
Whilst thou did pledge the Powers above,
 To be my ain dear Willy.
Both. For a’ the joys that gowd can gie,
I dinna care a...Read more of this...

132. Reply to a Trimming Epistle received from a Tailor

by Robert Burns
 WHAT ails ye now, ye lousie *****
To thresh my back at sic a pitch?
Losh, man! hae mercy wi’ your natch,
 Your bodkin’s bauld;
I didna suffer half sae much
 Frae Daddie Auld.


What tho’ at times, when I grow crouse,
I gie their wames a random pouse,
Is that enough for you to souse
 Your servant sae?
Gae mind your seam, ye prick-the-louse,
 An’...Read more of this...

363. Song—My Native Land sae far awa

by Robert Burns
 O SAD and heavy, should I part,
 But for her sake, sae far awa;
Unknowing what my way may thwart,
 My native land sae far awa.


Thou that of a’ things Maker art,
 That formed this Fair sae far awa,
Gie body strength, then I’ll ne’er start
 At this my way sae far awa.


How true is love to pure desert!
 Like mine...Read more of this...

329. Verses on the destruction of the Woods near Drumlanrig

by Robert Burns
 AS on the banks o’ wandering Nith,
 Ae smiling simmer morn I stray’d,
And traced its bonie howes and haughs,
 Where linties sang and lammies play’d,
I sat me down upon a craig,
 And drank my fill o’ fancy’s dream,
When from the eddying deep below,
 Up rose the genius of the stream.


Dark, like the frowning rock, his brow,
 And troubled, like...Read more of this...

296. The Five Carlins: An Election Ballad

by Robert Burns
 THERE was five Carlins in the South,
 They fell upon a scheme,
To send a lad to London town,
 To bring them tidings hame.


Nor only bring them tidings hame,
 But do their errands there,
And aiblins gowd and honor baith
 Might be that laddie’s share.


There was Maggy by the banks o’ Nith,
 A dame wi’ pride eneugh;
And Marjory o’ the mony...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...

131. Song—Willie Chalmers

by Robert Burns
 WI’ braw new branks in mickle pride,
 And eke a braw new brechan,
My Pegasus I’m got astride,
 And up Parnassus pechin;
Whiles owre a bush wi’ donwward crush,
 The doited beastie stammers;
Then up he gets, and off he sets,
 For sake o’ Willie Chalmers.


I doubt na, lass, that weel ken’d name
 May cost a pair o’ blushes;
I am nae stranger...Read more of this...

13. Song—Bonie Peggy Alison

by Robert Burns
 Chor.—And I’ll kiss thee yet, yet,
 And I’ll kiss thee o’er again:
And I’ll kiss thee yet, yet,
 My bonie Peggy Alison.


ILK care and fear, when thou art near
 I evermair defy them, O!
Young kings upon their hansel throne
 Are no sae blest as I am, O!
 And I’ll kiss thee yet, yet, &c.


When in my arms, wi’ a’ thy...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...

Tibbie Dunbar

by Robert Burns
 O, wilt thou go wi' me,
Sweet Tibbie Dunbar?
O, wilt thou go wi' me,
Sweet Tibbie Dunbar?
Wilt thou ride on a horse,
Or be drawn in a car,
Or walk by my side,
O sweet Tibbie Dunbar?

I care na thy daddie,
His lands and his money,
I care na thy kin
Sae high and sae lordly;
But say thou wilt ha'e me
For better for waur—
And come in thy...Read more of this...

217. Song—The Lad they ca' Jumpin John

by Robert Burns
 HER daddie forbad, her minnie forbad
 Forbidden she wadna be:
She wadna trow’t the browst she brew’d,
 Wad taste sae bitterlie.


Chorus.—The lang lad they ca’Jumpin John
 Beguil’d the bonie lassie,
The lang lad they ca’Jumpin John
 Beguil’d the bonie lassie.


A cow and a cauf, a yowe and a hauf,
 And thretty gude shillin’s and three;
A vera gude tocher, a cotter-man’s dochter,
...Read more of this...

402. Song—Meg o' the Mill (Another Version)

by Robert Burns
 O KEN ye what Meg o’ the Mill has gotten,
An’ ken ye what Meg o’ the Mill has gotten?
A braw new naig wi’ the tail o’ a rottan,
And that’s what Meg o’ the Mill has gotten.


O ken ye what Meg o’ the Mill lo’es dearly,
An’ ken ye what Meg o’ the Mill lo’es dearly?
A dram o’ gude strunt in...Read more of this...

384. Song—Highland Mary

by Robert Burns
 YE banks, and braes, and streams around
 The castle o’ Montgomery!
Green be your woods, and fair your flowers,
 Your waters never drumlie:
There Simmer first unfauld her robes,
 And there the langest tarry;
For there I took the last Farewell
 O’ my sweet Highland Mary.


How sweetly bloom’d the gay, green birk,
 How rich the hawthorn’s blossom,
As underneath their fragrant shade,
 I...Read more of this...

55. The Twa Herds; or The Holy Tulyie

by Robert Burns
 O A’ ye pious godly flocks,
Weel fed on pastures orthodox,
Wha now will keep you frae the fox,
 Or worrying tykes?
Or wha will tent the waifs an’ crocks,
 About the dykes?


The twa best herds in a’ the wast,
The e’er ga’e gospel horn a blast
These five an’ twenty simmers past—
 Oh, dool to tell!
Hae had a bitter black out-cast
 Atween themsel’.


O,...Read more of this...

152. Extempore in the Court of Session

by Robert Burns
 LORD ADVOCATEHE clenched his pamphlet in his fist,
 He quoted and he hinted,
Till, in a declamation-mist,
 His argument he tint it:
He gapèd for’t, he grapèd for’t,
 He fand it was awa, man;
But what his common sense came short,
 He eked out wi’ law, man.


MR. ERSKINECollected, Harry stood awee,
 Then open’d out his arm, man;
His Lordship sat wi’ ruefu’ e’e,
...Read more of this...

337. Song—Fragment—Altho' he has left me

by Robert Burns
 ALTHO’ he has left me for greed o’ the siller,
 I dinna envy him the gains he can win;
I rather wad bear a’ the lade o’ my sorrow,
 Than ever hae acted sae faithless to him....Read more of this...

139. Lines on Meeting with Lord Daer

by Robert Burns
 THIS 1 wot ye all whom it concerns,
I, Rhymer Robin, alias Burns,
 October twenty-third,
A ne’er-to-be-forgotten day,
Sae far I sprackl’d up the brae,
 I dinner’d wi’ a Lord.


I’ve been at drucken writers’ feasts,
Nay, been *****-fou ’mang godly priests—
 Wi’ rev’rence be it spoken!—
I’ve even join’d the honour’d jorum,
When mighty Squireships of the quorum,
 Their hydra drouth did sloken.


But wi’ a...Read more of this...

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