dots-menu
×

Home  »  The Poems and Songs  »  81 . Song—For a’ that

Robert Burns (1759–1796). Poems and Songs.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

81 . Song—For a’ that

THO’ women’s minds, like winter winds,

May shift, and turn, an’ a’ that,

The noblest breast adores them maist—

A consequence I draw that.

Chorus


For a’ that, an’ a’ that,

And twice as meikle’s a’ that;

The bonie lass that I loe best

She’ll be my ain for a’ that.

Great love I bear to a’ the fair,

Their humble slave, an’ a’ that;

But lordly will, I hold it still

A mortal sin to thraw that.

For a’ that, &c.

But there is ane aboon the lave,

Has wit, and sense, an’ a’ that;

A bonie lass, I like her best,

And wha a crime dare ca’ that?

For a’ that, &c.

In rapture sweet this hour we meet,

Wi’ mutual love an’ a’ that,

But for how lang the flie may stang,

Let inclination law that.

For a’ that, &c.

Their tricks an’ craft hae put me daft.

They’ve taen me in, an’ a’ that;

But clear your decks, and here’s—“The Sex!”

I like the jads for a’ that.

For a’ that, &c.