O Wat Ye Wha That Lo'es Me
written in 1795
O Wat Ye Wha That Lo'es Me - meaning Summary
Devotion Described in Folk-song
This lyric presents a speaker celebrating and idealizing a single beloved. Through repeating stanzas the poem lists signs of true devotion: the beloved’s beauty, the way she captivates attention, how all other women fade by comparison, and the heartbrokenness felt when parted. The voice is earnest, direct, and rooted in romantic constancy; repetition turns admiration into a kind of testimony. The poem is often read as Burns addressing a specific love interest, which frames the praise as both personal and representative of faithful attachment.
Read Complete AnalysesO wat ye wha that lo'es me, And has my heart a keeping? O sweet is she that lo'es me, As dews o' summer weeping, In tears the rosebuds steeping. O that's the lassie o' my heart, My lassie, ever dearer; O that's the queen o' womankind, And ne'er a ane to peer her. If thou shalt meet a lassie In grace and beauty charming, That e'en thy chosen lassie, Erewhile thy breast sae warming, Had ne'er sic powers alarming. O that's the lassie o' my heart, My lassie, ever dearer; O that's the queen o' womankind, And ne'er a ane to peer her. If thou hast heard her talking, And thy attention's plighted, That ilka body talking But her, by thee is slighted; And thou art all delighted. O that's the lassie o' my heart, My lassie, ever dearer; O that's the queen o' womankind, And ne'er a ane to peer her. If thou hast met this Fair One, When frae her thou hast parted, If every other Fair One, But her, thou hast deserted, And thou art broken hearted. O that's the lassie o' my heart, My lassie, ever dearer: O that's the queen o' womankind, And ne'er a ane to peer her.
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