A Mother's Lament For Her Son's Death

FATE gave the word, the arrow sped,

And pierc'd my darling's heart;

And with him all the joys are fled

Life can to me impart.

By cruel hands the sapling drops,

In dust dishonour'd laid;

So fell the pride of all my hopes,

My age's future shade.

The mother-linnet in the brake

Bewails her ravish'd young;

So I, for my lost darling's sake,

Lament the live-day long.

Death, oft I've feared thy fatal blow.

Now, fond, I bare my breast;

O, do thou kindly lay me low

With him I love, at rest!

Robert Burns

Robert Burns (born January 25, 1759, Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland—died July 21, 1796, Dumfries, Dumfriesshire) national poet of Scotland, who wrote lyrics and songs in Scots and in English. Burns wrote in a variety of forms: epistles to friends, ballads, and songs. His best-known poem is the mock-heroic Tam o’ Shanter. He is also well known for the over three hundred songs he wrote which celebrate love, friendship, work, and drink with often hilarious and tender sympathy. He was also famous for his amours and his rebellion against orthodox religion and morality. Robert Burns died from heart disease at the age of thirty-seven. On the day of his death, Jean Armour gave birth to his last son, Maxwell.

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A Mother's Lament For Her Son's Death

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