O Can Ye Labour Lea?

 

1792
Type: Poem

Chorus-O can ye labour lea, young man,
O can ye labour lea?
It fee nor bountith shall us twine
Gin ye can labour lea.

I fee’d a man at Michaelmas,
Wi’ airle pennies three;
But a’ the faut I had to him,
He could na labour lea,
O can ye labour lea, &c.

O clappin’s gude in Febarwar,
An’ kissin’s sweet in May;
But my delight’s the ploughman lad,
That weel can labour lea,
O can ye labour lea, &c.

O kissin is the key o’ luve,
And clappin’ is the lock;
An’ makin’ o’s the best thing yet,
That e’er a young thing gat.
O can ye labour lea, &c.

————-

Home

Robert Burns Collection

Fledermausi’s Poetry Page

Robert Burns Page

Poetry from Scotland 

Poetry by subject

Poems by author and category

Parallel translations, the parallel world of translating poetry 

Poetry in Russian (you’d have to select Russian in the language switch area, otherwise you won’t be able to read poems in Russian)

Robert Burns