The Bonnie Lass Of Albany

By Robert Burns

My heart is wae, and unco wae,
To think upon the raging sea
That roars between her gardens green,
An' the bonnie Lass of Albany.

This lovely maid's of royal blood,
That ruled Albion's kingdoms three,
But oh, alas! for her bonnie face,
They've wrang'd the Lass of Albany.

In the rolling tide of spreading Clyde,
There sits an isle of high degree,
And a town of fame whose princely name,
Should grace the Lass of Albany.

But there's a youth, a witless youth,
That fills the place where she should be;
We'll send him o'er his native shore,
And bring our ain sweet Albany.

Alas the day, and woe the day,
A false usurper wan the gree,
Who now commands the towers and lands -
The royal right of Albany.

We'll daily pray, we'll nightly pray,
On bended knees most fervently,
That the time may come, with pipe an' drum,
We'll welcome hame fair Albany.

Notes to the poem:

"This song," says Chambers, "is printed from a manuscript book in Burns's handwriting, in the possession of Mr. B. Nightingale of London." The heroine was the natural daughter of Prince Charles Edward, by Clemintina Walkinshaw, a lady with whom he lived for many years. She was legitimized by an enactment of the Parliament of Paris in 1787 under the title of the Duchess of Albany.