Lyric Poem · Nature
M’Pherson’s Farewell
by Robert Burns
FAREWELL, ye dungeons dark and strong,
The wretch’s destinie!
M’Pherson’s time will not be long
On yonder gallows-tree.
Chorus.—Sae rantingly, sae wantonly,
Sae dauntingly gaed he;
He play’d a spring, and danc’d it round,
Below the gallows-tree.
O, what is death but parting breath?
On many a bloody plain
I’ve dared his face, and in this place
I scorn him yet again!
Sae rantingly, &c.
Untie these bands from off my hands,
And bring me to my sword;
And there’s no a man in all Scotland
But I’ll brave him at a word.
Sae rantingly, &c.
I’ve liv’d a life of sturt and strife;
I die by treacherie:
It burns my heart I must depart,
And not avengèd be.
Sae rantingly, &c.
Now farewell light, thou sunshine bright,
And all beneath the sky!
May coward shame distain his name,
The wretch that dares not die!
Sae rantingly, &c.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“M’Pherson’s Farewell” by Robert Burns — quilloak.com/poems/mphersons-farewell
Quick facts
- Poem
- M’Pherson’s Farewell
- Poet
- Robert Burns
- Length
- 28 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Death & Loss, Spring
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
- 28 lines · 6 stanzas of 4–5 lines
- Line length
- Lines run 5-8 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
- Refrain
- “Sae rantingly, &c.”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
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
- PoetryDBM’Pherson’s Farewell 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 e4e478af19ec38b5…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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