This life,sae far's I understand,Is a'enchanted fairy-land,Where Pleasure is the magic-wand,That,wielded right,Maks hours like minutes,hand in hand,Dance by fu'light.
The magic-wand then let us wield;
For ance that five-an'-forty's speel'd,See,crazy,weary,joyless eild,Wi'wrinkl'd face,Comes hostin,hirplin owre the field,We'creepin pace.
When ance life's day draws near the gloamin,Then fareweel vacant,careless roamin;An'fareweel cheerfu'tankards foamin,An'social noise:
An'fareweel dear,deluding woman,The Joy of joys!
O Life!how pleasant,in thy morning,Young Fancy's rays the hills adorning!
Cold-pausing Caution's lesson scorning,We frisk away,Like school-boys,at th'expected warning,To joy an'play.
We wander there,we wander here,We eye the rose upon the brier,Unmindful that the thorn is near,Among the leaves;And tho'the puny wound appear,Short while it grieves.
Some,lucky,find a flow'ry spot,For which they never toil'd nor swat;They drink the sweet and eat the fat,But care or pain;And haply eye the barren hut With high disdain.
With steady aim,some Fortune chase;
Keen hope does ev'ry sinew brace;
Thro'fair,thro'foul,they urge the race,An'seize the prey:
Then cannie,in some cozie place,They close the day.
And others,like your humble servan',Poor wights!nae rules nor roads observin,To right or left eternal swervin,They zig-zag on;Till,curst with age,obscure an'starvin,They aften groan.
Alas!what bitter toil an'straining-
But truce with peevish,poor complaining!
Is fortune's fickle Luna waning?
E'n let her gang!
Beneath what light she has remaining,Let's sing our sang.
My pen I here fling to the door,And kneel,ye Pow'rs!and warm implore,"Tho'I should wander Terra o'er,In all her climes,Grant me but this,I ask no more,Aye rowth o'rhymes.
"Gie dreepin roasts to countra lairds,Till icicles hing frae their beards;Gie fine braw claes to fine life-guards,And maids of honour;An'yill an'whisky gie to cairds,Until they sconner.
"A title,Dempster^1merits it;
A garter gie to Willie Pitt;
Gie wealth to some be-ledger'd cit,In cent.per cent.;But give me real,sterling wit,And I'm content.
[Footnote 1:George Dempster of Dunnichen,M.P.]
"While ye are pleas'd to keep me hale,I'll sit down o'er my scanty meal,Be't water-brose or muslin-kail,Wi'cheerfu'face,As lang's the Muses dinna fail To say the grace."An anxious e'e I never throws Behint my lug,or by my nose;I jouk beneath Misfortune's blows As weel's I may;Sworn foe to sorrow,care,and prose,I rhyme away.
O ye douce folk that live by rule,Grave,tideless-blooded,calm an'cool,Compar'd wi'you-O fool!fool!fool!
How much unlike!
Your hearts are just a standing pool,Your lives,a dyke!
Nae hair-brain'd,sentimental traces In your unletter'd,nameless faces!
In arioso trills and graces Ye never stray;But gravissimo,solemn basses Ye hum away.
Ye are sae grave,nae doubt ye're wise;
Nae ferly tho'ye do despise The hairum-scairum,ram-stam boys,The rattling squad:
I see ye upward cast your eyes-
Ye ken the road!
Whilst I-but I shall haud me there,Wi'you I'll scarce gang ony where-Then,Jamie,I shall say nae mair,But quat my sang,Content wi'you to mak a pair.
Whare'er I gang.
The Vision Duan First^1
The sun had clos'd the winter day,The curless quat their roarin play,And hunger'd maukin taen her way,To kail-yards green,While faithless snaws ilk step betray Whare she has been.
The thresher's weary flingin-tree,The lee-lang day had tired me;And when the day had clos'd his e'e,Far i'the west,Ben i'the spence,right pensivelie,I gaed to rest.
There,lanely by the ingle-cheek,I sat and ey'd the spewing reek,That fill'd,wi'hoast-provoking smeek,The auld clay biggin;An'heard the restless rattons squeak About the riggin.
All in this mottie,misty clime,I backward mus'd on wasted time,How I had spent my youthfu'prime,An'done nae thing,But stringing blethers up in rhyme,For fools to sing.
Had I to guid advice but harkit,I might,by this,hae led a market,Or strutted in a bank and clarkit My cash-account;While here,half-mad,half-fed,half-sarkit.
Is a'th'amount.
[Footnote 1:Duan,a term of Ossian's for the different divisions of a digressive poem.See his Cath-Loda,vol.2of M'Pherson's translation.-R.
B.]
I started,mutt'ring,"blockhead!coof!"
And heav'd on high my waukit loof,To swear by a'yon starry roof,Or some rash aith,That I henceforth wad be rhyme-proof Till my last breath-When click!the string the snick did draw;An'jee!the door gaed to the wa';
An'by my ingle-lowe I saw,Now bleezin bright,A tight,outlandish hizzie,braw,Come full in sight.
Ye need na doubt,I held my whisht;
The infant aith,half-form'd,was crusht I glowr'd as eerie's I'd been dusht In some wild glen;When sweet,like honest Worth,she blusht,An'stepped ben.
Green,slender,leaf-clad holly-boughs Were twisted,gracefu',round her brows;I took her for some Scottish Muse,By that same token;And come to stop those reckless vows,Would soon been broken.
A "hair-brain'd,sentimental trace"
Was strongly marked in her face;
A wildly-witty,rustic grace Shone full upon her;Her eye,ev'n turn'd on empty space,Beam'd keen with honour.
Down flow'd her robe,a tartan sheen,Till half a leg was scrimply seen;An'such a leg!my bonie Jean Could only peer it;Sae straught,sae taper,tight an'clean-Nane else came near it.
Her mantle large,of greenish hue,My gazing wonder chiefly drew:
Deep lights and shades,bold-mingling,threw A lustre grand;And seem'd,to my astonish'd view,A well-known land.
Here,rivers in the sea were lost;
There,mountains to the skies were toss't:
Here,tumbling billows mark'd the coast,With surging foam;There,distant shone Art's lofty boast,The lordly dome.
Here,Doon pour'd down his far-fetch'd floods;There,well-fed Irwine stately thuds:
Auld hermit Ayr staw thro'his woods,On to the shore;And many a lesser torrent scuds,With seeming roar.
Low,in a sandy valley spread,An ancient borough rear'd her head;Still,as in Scottish story read,She boasts a race To ev'ry nobler virtue bred,And polish'd grace.^2By stately tow'r,or palace fair,Or ruins pendent in the air,Bold stems of heroes,here and there,I could discern;Some seem'd to muse,some seem'd to dare,With feature stern.
My heart did glowing transport feel,To see a race heroic^3wheel,[Footnote 2:The seven stanzas following this were first printed in the Edinburgh edition,1787.Other stanzas,never published by Burns himself,are given on p.180.]
[Footnote 3:The Wallaces.-R.B.]
And brandish round the deep-dyed steel,In sturdy blows;While,back-recoiling,seem'd to reel Their Suthron foes.
His Country's Saviour,^4mark him well!
Bold Richardton's heroic swell,;^5
The chief,on Sark who glorious fell,^6
In high command;
And he whom ruthless fates expel His native land.
There,where a sceptr'd Pictish shade Stalk'd round his ashes lowly laid,^7I mark'd a martial race,pourtray'd In colours strong:
Bold,soldier-featur'd,undismay'd,They strode along.
Thro'many a wild,romantic grove,^8
Near many a hermit-fancied cove (Fit haunts for friendship or for love,In musing mood),An aged Judge,I saw him rove,Dispensing good.
With deep-struck,reverential awe,The learned Sire and Son I saw:^9To Nature's God,and Nature's law,They gave their lore;This,all its source and end to draw,That,to adore.
[Footnote 4:William Wallace.-R.B.]
[Footnote 5:Adam Wallace of Richardton,cousin to the immortal preserver of Scottish independence.-R.B.]
[Footnote 6:Wallace,laird of Craigie,who was second in command under Douglas,Earl of Ormond,at the famous battle on the banks of Sark,fought anno 1448.That glorious victory was principally owing to the judicious conduct and intrepid valour of the gallant laird of Craigie,who died of his wounds after the action.-R.B.]
[Footnote 7:Coilus,King of the Picts,from whom the district of Kyle is said to take its name,lies buried,as tradition says,near the family seat of the Montgomeries of Coilsfield,where his burial-place is still shown.-R.B.]
[Footnote 8:Barskimming,the seat of the Lord Justice-Clerk.-R.B.]
[Footnote 9:Catrine,the seat of the late Doctor and present Professor Stewart.-R.B.]
Brydon's brave ward^10I well could spy,Beneath old Scotia's smiling eye:
Who call'd on Fame,low standing by,To hand him on,Where many a patriot-name on high,And hero shone.
Duan Second With musing-deep,astonish'd stare,I view'd the heavenly-seeming Fair;A whispering throb did witness bear Of kindred sweet,When with an elder sister's air She did me greet.
"All hail!my own inspired bard!
In me thy native Muse regard;
Nor longer mourn thy fate is hard,Thus poorly low;I come to give thee such reward,As we bestow!
"Know,the great genius of this land Has many a light aerial band,Who,all beneath his high command,Harmoniously,As arts or arms they understand,Their labours ply.
"They Scotia's race among them share:
Some fire the soldier on to dare;
Some rouse the patriot up to bare Corruption's heart:
Some teach the bard -a darling care -
The tuneful art.
"'Mong swelling floods of reeking gore,They,ardent,kindling spirits pour;[Footnote 10:Colonel Fullarton.-R.B.This gentleman had travelled under the care of Patrick Brydone,author of a well-known "Tour Through Sicily and Malta."]
Or,'mid the venal senate's roar,They,sightless,stand,To mend the honest patriot-lore,And grace the hand.
"And when the bard,or hoary sage,Charm or instruct the future age,They bind the wild poetric rage In energy,Or point the inconclusive page Full on the eye.
"Hence,Fullarton,the brave and young;
Hence,Dempster's zeal-inspired tongue;
Hence,sweet,harmonious Beattie sung His 'Minstrel lays';Or tore,with noble ardour stung,The sceptic's bays.
"To lower orders are assign'd The humbler ranks of human-kind,The rustic bard,the lab'ring hind,The artisan;All choose,as various they're inclin'd,The various man.
"When yellow waves the heavy grain,The threat'ning storm some strongly rein;Some teach to meliorate the plain With tillage-skill;And some instruct the shepherd-train,Blythe o'er the hill.
"Some hint the lover's harmless wile;
Some grace the maiden's artless smile;
Some soothe the lab'rer's weary toil For humble gains,And make his cottage-scenes beguile His cares and pains.
"Some,bounded to a district-space Explore at large man's infant race,To mark the embryotic trace Of rustic bard;And careful note each opening grace,A guide and guard.
"Of these am I-Coila my name:
And this district as mine I claim,Where once the Campbells,chiefs of fame,Held ruling power:
I mark'd thy embryo-tuneful flame,Thy natal hour.
"With future hope I oft would gaze Fond,on thy little early ways,Thy rudely,caroll'd,chiming phrase,In uncouth rhymes;Fir'd at the simple,artless lays Of other times.
"I saw thee seek the sounding shore,Delighted with the dashing roar;Or when the North his fleecy store Drove thro'the sky,I saw grim Nature's visage hoar Struck thy young eye.
"Or when the deep green-mantled earth Warm cherish'd ev'ry floweret's birth,And joy and music pouring forth In ev'ry grove;I saw thee eye the general mirth With boundless love.
"When ripen'd fields and azure skies Call'd forth the reapers'rustling noise,I saw thee leave their ev'ning joys,And lonely stalk,To vent thy bosom's swelling rise,In pensive walk.
"When youthful love,warm-blushing,strong,Keen-shivering,shot thy nerves along,Those accents grateful to thy tongue,Th'adored Name,I taught thee how to pour in song,To soothe thy flame.
"I saw thy pulse's maddening play,Wild send thee Pleasure's devious way,Misled by Fancy's meteor-ray,By passion driven;But yet the light that led astray Was light from Heaven.
"I taught thy manners-painting strains,The loves,the ways of simple swains,Till now,o'er all my wide domains Thy fame extends;And some,the pride of Coila's plains,Become thy friends.
"Thou canst not learn,nor I can show,To paint with Thomson's landscape glow;Or wake the bosom-melting throe,With Shenstone's art;Or pour,with Gray,the moving flow Warm on the heart.
"Yet,all beneath th'unrivall'd rose,T e lowly daisy sweetly blows;Tho'large the forest's monarch throws His army shade,Yet green the juicy hawthorn grows,Adown the glade.
"Then never murmur nor repine;
Strive in thy humble sphere to shine;
And trust me,not Potosi's mine,Nor king's regard,Can give a bliss o'ermatching thine,A rustic bard.
"To give my counsels all in one,Thy tuneful flame still careful fan:
Preserve the dignity of Man,With soul erect;And trust the Universal Plan Will all protect.
"And wear thou this"-she solemn said,And bound the holly round my head:
The polish'd leaves and berries red Did rustling play;And,like a passing thought,she fled In light away.
[To Mrs.Stewart of Stair,Burns presented a manuscript copy of the Vision.That copy embraces about twenty stanzas at the end of Duan First,which he cancelled when he came to print the price in his Kilmarnock volume.
Seven of these he restored in printing his second edition,as noted on p.
174.The following are the verses which he left unpublished.]
Suppressed Stanza's Of "The Vision"
After 18th stanza of the text (at "His native land"):-With secret throes I marked that earth,That cottage,witness of my birth;And near I saw,bold issuing forth In youthful pride,A Lindsay race of noble worth,Famed far and wide.
Where,hid behind a spreading wood,An ancient Pict-built mansion stood,I spied,among an angel brood,A female pair;Sweet shone their high maternal blood,And father's air.^1An ancient tower^2to memory brought How Dettingen's bold hero fought;Still,far from sinking into nought,It owns a lord Who far in western climates fought,With trusty sword.
[Footnote 1:Sundrum.-R.B.]
[Footnote 2:Stair.-R.B.]
Among the rest I well could spy One gallant,graceful,martial boy,The soldier sparkled in his eye,A diamond water.
I blest that noble badge with joy,That owned me frater.^3After 20th stanza of the text (at "Dispensing good"):-Near by arose a mansion fine^4
The seat of many a muse divine;
Not rustic muses such as mine,With holly crown'd,But th'ancient,tuneful,laurell'd Nine,From classic ground.
I mourn'd the card that Fortune dealt,To see where bonie Whitefoords dwelt;^5But other prospects made me melt,That village near;^6There Nature,Friendship,Love,I felt,Fond-mingling,dear!
Hail!Nature's pang,more strong than death!
Warm Friendship's glow,like kindling wrath!
Love,dearer than the parting breath Of dying friend!
Not ev'n with life's wild devious path,Your force shall end!
The Power that gave the soft alarms In blooming Whitefoord's rosy charms,Still threats the tiny,feather'd arms,The barbed dart,While lovely Wilhelmina warms The coldest heart.^7After 21st stanza of the text (at "That,to adore"):-Where Lugar leaves his moorland plaid,^8
Where lately Want was idly laid,[Footnote 3:Captain James Montgomerie,Master of St.James'Lodge,Tarbolton,to which the author has the honour to belong.,-R.B.]
[Footnote 4:Auchinleck.-R.B.]
[Footnote 5:Ballochmyle.]
[Footnote 6:Mauchline.]
[Footnote 7:Miss Wilhelmina Alexander.]
[Footnote 8:Cumnock.-R.B.]
I marked busy,bustling Trade,In fervid flame,Beneath a Patroness'aid,of noble name.
Wild,countless hills I could survey,And countless flocks as wild as they;But other scenes did charms display,That better please,Where polish'd manners dwell with Gray,In rural ease.^9Where Cessnock pours with gurgling sound;^10And Irwine,marking out the bound,Enamour'd of the scenes around,Slow runs his race,A name I doubly honour'd found,^11With knightly grace.
Brydon's brave ward,^12I saw him stand,Fame humbly offering her hand,And near,his kinsman's rustic band,^13With one accord,Lamenting their late blessed land Must change its lord.
The owner of a pleasant spot,Near and sandy wilds,I last did note;^14A heart too warm,a pulse too hot At times,o'erran:
But large in ev'ry feature wrote,Appear'd the Man.
The Rantin'Dog,The Daddie O't tune-"Whare'll our guidman lie."O wha my babie-clouts will buy?
O wha will tent me when I cry?
Wha will kiss me where I lie?
The rantin'dog,the daddie o't.
[Footnote 9:Mr.Farquhar Gray.-R.B.]
[Footnote 10:Auchinskieth.-R.B.]
[Footnote 11:Caprington.-R.B.]
[Footnote 12:Colonel Fullerton.-R.B.]
[Footnote 13:Dr.Fullerton.-R.B.]
[Footnote 14:Orangefield.-R.B.]
O wha will own he did the faut?
O wha will buy the groanin maut?
O wha will tell me how to ca't?
The rantin'dog,the daddie o't.
When I mount the creepie-chair,Wha will sit beside me there?
Gie me Rob,I'll seek nae mair,The rantin'dog,the daddie o't.
Wha will crack to me my lane?
Wha will mak me fidgin'fain?
Wha will kiss me o'er again?
The rantin'dog,the daddie o't.
Here's His Health In Water tune-"The Job of Journey-work."Altho'my back be at the wa',And tho'he be the fautor;Altho'my back be at the wa',Yet,here's his health in water.
O wae gae by his wanton sides,Sae brawlie's he could flatter;Till for his sake I'm slighted sair,And dree the kintra clatter:
But tho'my back be at the wa',And tho'he be the fautor;But tho'my back be at the wa',Yet here's his health in water!
Address To The Unco Guid,Or The Rigidly Righteous My Son,these maxims make a rule,An'lump them aye thegither;The Rigid Righteous is a fool,The Rigid Wise anither:
The cleanest corn that ere was dight May hae some pyles o'caff in;So ne'er a fellow-creature slight For random fits o'daffin.
Solomon.-Eccles.ch.vii.verse 16.
O ye wha are sae guid yoursel',Sae pious and sae holy,Ye've nought to do but mark and tell Your neibours'fauts and folly!
Whase life is like a weel-gaun mill,Supplied wi'store o'water;The heaped happer's ebbing still,An'still the clap plays clatter.
Hear me,ye venerable core,As counsel for poor mortals That frequent pass douce Wisdom's door For glaikit Folly's portals:
I,for their thoughtless,careless sakes,Would here propone defences-Their donsie tricks,their black mistakes,Their failings and mischances.
Ye see your state wi'theirs compared,And shudder at the niffer;But cast a moment's fair regard,What maks the mighty differ;Discount what scant occasion gave,That purity ye pride in;And (what's aft mair than a'the lave),Your better art o'hidin.
Think,when your castigated pulse Gies now and then a wallop!
What ragings must his veins convulse,That still eternal gallop!
Wi'wind and tide fair i'your tail,Right on ye scud your sea-way;But in the teeth o'baith to sail,It maks a unco lee-way.
See Social Life and Glee sit down,All joyous and unthinking,Till,quite transmugrified,they're grown Debauchery and Drinking:
O would they stay to calculate Th'eternal consequences;Or your more dreaded hell to state,Damnation of expenses!
Ye high,exalted,virtuous dames,Tied up in godly laces,Before ye gie poor Frailty names,Suppose a change o'cases;A dear-lov'd lad,convenience snug,A treach'rous inclination-But let me whisper i'your lug,Ye're aiblins nae temptation.
Then gently scan your brother man,Still gentler sister woman;Tho'they may gang a kennin wrang,To step aside is human:
One point must still be greatly dark,-
The moving Why they do it;
And just as lamely can ye mark,How far perhaps they rue it.
Who made the heart,'tis He alone Decidedly can try us;He knows each chord,its various tone,Each spring,its various bias:
Then at the balance let's be mute,We never can adjust it;What's done we partly may compute,But know not what's resisted.
The Inventory^1
In answer to a mandate by the Surveyor of the Taxes Sir,as your mandate did request,I send you here a faithfu'list,O'gudes an'gear,an'a'my graith,To which I'm clear to gi'e my aith.
Imprimis,then,for carriage cattle,I hae four brutes o'gallant mettle,As ever drew afore a pettle.
My hand-afore 's a guid auld has-been,An'wight an'wilfu'a'his days been:
My hand-ahin 's a weel gaun fillie,That aft has borne me hame frae Killie.^2An'your auld borough mony a time In days when riding was nae crime.
But ance,when in my wooing pride I,like a blockhead,boost to ride,The wilfu'creature sae I pat to,(Lord pardon a'my sins,an'that too!)I play'd my fillie sic a shavie,She's a'bedevil'd wi'the spavie.
My furr-ahin 's a wordy beast,As e'er in tug or tow was traced.
The fourth's a Highland Donald hastle,A damn'd red-wud Kilburnie blastie!
Foreby a cowt,o'cowts the wale,As ever ran afore a tail:
Gin he be spar'd to be a beast,He'll draw me fifteen pund at least.
Wheel-carriages I ha'e but few,Three carts,an'twa are feckly new;An auld wheelbarrow,mair for token,Ae leg an'baith the trams are broken;I made a poker o'the spin'le,An'my auld mither brunt the trin'le.
[Footnote 1:The "Inventory"was addressed to Mr.Aitken of Ayr,surveyor of taxes for the district.]
[Footnote 2:Kilmarnock.-R.B.]
For men,I've three mischievous boys,Run-deils for ranting an'for noise;A gaudsman ane,a thrasher t'other:
Wee Davock hauds the nowt in fother.
I rule them as I ought,discreetly,An'aften labour them completely;An'aye on Sundays duly,nightly,I on the Questions targe them tightly;Till,faith!wee Davock's grown sae gleg,Tho'scarcely langer than your leg,He'll screed you aff Effectual Calling,As fast as ony in the dwalling.
I've nane in female servant station,(Lord keep me aye frae a'temptation!)I hae nae wife-and thay my bliss is,An'ye have laid nae tax on misses;An'then,if kirk folks dinna clutch me,I ken the deevils darena touch me.
Wi'weans I'm mair than weel contented,Heav'n sent me ane mae than I wanted!
My sonsie,smirking,dear-bought Bess,She stares the daddy in her face,Enough of ought ye like but grace;But her,my bonie,sweet wee lady,I've paid enough for her already;An'gin ye tax her or her mither,By the Lord,ye'se get them a'thegither!
And now,remember,Mr.Aiken,Nae kind of licence out I'm takin:
Frae this time forth,I do declare I'se ne'er ride horse nor hizzie mair;Thro'dirt and dub for life I'll paidle,Ere I sae dear pay for a saddle;My travel a'on foot I'll shank it,I've sturdy bearers,Gude the thankit!
The kirk and you may tak you that,It puts but little in your pat;Sae dinna put me in your beuk,Nor for my ten white shillings leuk.
This list,wi'my ain hand I wrote it,The day and date as under noted;Then know all ye whom it concerns,Subscripsi huic,Robert Burns.
Mossgiel,February 22,1786.
To John Kennedy,Dumfries House Now,Kennedy,if foot or horse E'er bring you in by Mauchlin corse,(Lord,man,there's lasses there wad force A hermit's fancy;An'down the gate in faith they're worse,An'mair unchancy).
But as I'm sayin,please step to Dow's,An'taste sic gear as Johnie brews,Till some bit callan bring me news That ye are there;An'if we dinna hae a bouze,I'se ne'er drink mair.
It's no I like to sit an'swallow,Then like a swine to puke an'wallow;But gie me just a true good fallow,Wi'right ingine,And spunkie ance to mak us mellow,An'then we'll shine.
Now if ye're ane o'warl's folk,Wha rate the wearer by the cloak,An'sklent on poverty their joke,Wi'bitter sneer,Wi'you nae friendship I will troke,Nor cheap nor dear.
But if,as I'm informed weel,Ye hate as ill's the very deil The flinty heart that canna feel-Come,sir,here's to you!
Hae,there's my haun',I wiss you weel,An'gude be wi'you.
Robt.Burness.
Mossgiel,3rd March,1786.
To Mr.M'Adam,Of Craigen-Gillan In answer to an obliging Letter he sent in the commencement of my poetic career.
Sir,o'er a gill I gat your card,I trow it made me proud;"See wha taks notice o'the bard!"
I lap and cried fu'loud.
Now deil-ma-care about their jaw,The senseless,gawky million;I'll cock my nose abune them a',I'm roos'd by Craigen-Gillan!
'Twas noble,sir;'twas like yourself',To grant your high protection:
A great man's smile ye ken fu'well Is aye a blest infection.
Tho',by his banes wha in a tub Match'd Macedonian Sandy!
On my ain legs thro'dirt and dub,I independent stand aye,-And when those legs to gude,warm kail,Wi'welcome canna bear me,A lee dyke-side,a sybow-tail,An'barley-scone shall cheer me.
Heaven spare you lang to kiss the breath O'mony flow'ry simmers!
An'bless your bonie lasses baith,I'm tauld they're loosome kimmers!
An'God bless young Dunaskin's laird,The blossom of our gentry!
An'may he wear and auld man's beard,A credit to his country.
To A Louse,On Seeing One On A Lady's Bonnet,At Church Ha!whaur ye gaun,ye crowlin ferlie?
Your impudence protects you sairly;
I canna say but ye strunt rarely,Owre gauze and lace;Tho',faith!I fear ye dine but sparely On sic a place.