Lyric Poem · Love
Farewell thou stream that winding flows
by Robert Burns
FAREWELL, thou stream that winding flows
Around Eliza’s dwelling;
O mem’ry! spare the cruel thoes
Within my bosom swelling.
Condemn’d to drag a hopeless chain
And yet in secret languish;
To feel a fire in every vein,
Nor dare disclose my anguish.
Love’s veriest wretch, unseen, unknown,
I fain my griefs would cover;
The bursting sigh, th’ unweeting groan,
Betray the hapless lover.
I know thou doom’st me to despair,
Nor wilt, nor canst relieve me;
But, O Eliza, hear one prayer—
For pity’s sake forgive me!
The music of thy voice I heard,
Nor wist while it enslav’d me;
I saw thine eyes, yet nothing fear’d,
Till fears no more had sav’d me:
Th’ unwary sailor thus, aghast
The wheeling torrent viewing,
’Mid circling horrors sinks at last,
In overwhelming ruin.
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“Farewell thou stream that winding flows” by Robert Burns — quilloak.com/poems/farewell-thou-stream-that-winding-flows
Quick facts
- Poem
- Farewell thou stream that winding flows
- Poet
- Robert Burns
- Length
- 24 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Love, Sad, Peace
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 24 lines · 3 octaves
- Line length
- Lines run 7-10 syllables (median 8), consistent with tetrameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Robert Burns1759–1796
- Source record
- PoetryDBFarewell thou stream that winding flows by robert-burns, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 0499d1a085a0a26c…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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