How Long and Dreary is the Night (Song)
HOW long and dreary is the night,
When I am frae my dearie!
I sleepless lie frae e’en to morn,
Tho’ I were ne’er so weary:
I sleepless lie frae e’en to morn, 5
Tho’ I were ne’er sae weary!
When I think on the happy days
I spent wi’ you my dearie:
And now what lands between us lie,
How can I be but eerie! 10
And now what lands between us lie,
How can I be but eerie!
How slow ye move, ye heavy hours,
As ye were wae and weary!
It was na sae ye glinted by, 15
When I was wi’ my dearie!
It was na sae ye glinted by,
When I was wi’ my dearie!
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
215.
Hey, the Dusty Miller (Song)
HEY, the dusty Miller,
And his dusty coat,
He will win a shilling,
Or he spend a groat:
Dusty was the coat, 5
Dusty was the colour,
Dusty was the kiss
That I gat frae the Miller.
Hey, the dusty Miller,
And his dusty sack; 10
Leeze me on the calling
Fills the dusty peck:
Fills the dusty peck,
Brings the dusty siller;
I wad gie my coatie 15
For the dusty Miller.
Chronological List of Poems
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216.
Duncan Davison (Song)
THERE was a lass, they ca’d her Meg,
And she held o’er the moors to spin;
There was a lad that follow’d her,
They ca’d him Duncan Davison.
The moor was dreigh, and Meg was skeigh, 5
Her favour Duncan could na win;
For wi’ the rock she wad him knock,
And aye she shook the temper-pin.
As o’er the moor they lightly foor,
A burn was clear, a glen was green, 10
Upon the banks they eas’d their shanks,
And aye she set the wheel between:
But Duncan swoor a haly aith,
That Meg should be a bride the morn;
Then Meg took up her spinning-graith, 15
And flang them a’ out o’er the burn.
We will big a wee, wee house,
And we will live like king and queen;
Sae blythe and merry’s we will be,
When ye set by the wheel at e’en. 20
A man may drink, and no be drunk;
A man may fight, and no be slain;
A man may kiss a bonie lass,
And aye be welcome back again!
Chronological List of Poems
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217.
The Lad they ca’ Jumpin John (Song)
HER daddie forbad, her minnie forbad
Forbidden she wadna be:
She wadna trow’t the browst she brew’d,
Wad taste sae bitterlie.
Chorus. — The lang lad they ca’Jumpin John 5
Beguil’d the bonie lassie,
The lang lad they ca’Jumpin John
Beguil’d the bonie lassie.
A cow and a cauf, a yowe and a hauf,
And thretty gude shillin’s and three; 10
A vera gude tocher, a cotter-man’s dochter,
The lass wi’ the bonie black e’e.
The lang lad, &c.
Chronological List of Poems
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218.
Talk of him that’s Far Awa (Song)
MUSING on the roaring ocean,
Which divides my love and me;
Wearying heav’n in warm devotion,
For his weal where’er he be.
Hope and Fear’s alternate billow 5
Yielding late to Nature’s law,
Whispering spirits round my pillow,
Talk of him that’s far awa.
Ye whom sorrow never wounded,
Ye who never shed a tear, 10
Care-untroubled, joy-surrounded,
Gaudy day to you is dear.
Gentle night, do thou befriend me,
Downy sleep, the curtain draw;
Spirits kind, again attend me, 15
Talk of him that’s far awa!
Chronological List of Poems
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219.
To Daunton Me (Song)
THE BLUDE-RED rose at Yule may blaw,
The simmer lilies bloom in snaw,
The frost may freeze the deepest sea;
But an auld man shall never daunton me.
Refrain. — To daunton me, to daunton me, 5
And auld man shall never daunton me.
To daunton me, and me sae young,
Wi’ his fause heart and flatt’ring tongue,
That is the thing you shall never see,
For an auld man shall never daunton me. 10
To daunton me, &c.
For a’ his meal and a’ his maut,
For a’ his fresh beef and his saut,
For a’ his gold and white monie,
And auld men shall never daunton me. 15
To daunton me, &c.
His gear may buy him kye and yowes,
His gear may buy him glens and knowes;
But me he shall not buy nor fee,
For an auld man shall never daunton me. 20
To daunton me, &c.
He hirples twa fauld as he dow,
Wi’ his teethless gab and his auld beld pow,
And the rain rains down frae his red blear’d e’e;
That auld man shall never daunton me. 25
To daunton me, &c.
Chronological List of Poems
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220.
The Winter it is Past (Song)
THE WINTER it is past, and the summer comes at last
And the small birds, they sing on ev’ry tree;
Now ev’ry thing is glad, while I am very sad,
Since my true love is parted from me.
The rose upon the breer, by the waters running clear, 5
May have charms for the linnet or the bee;
Their little loves are blest, and their little hearts at rest,
But my true love is parted from me.
Chronological List of Poems
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221.
The Bonie Lad that’s Far Awa (Song)
O HOW can I be blythe and glad,
Or how can I gang brisk and braw,
When the bonie lad that I lo’e best
Is o’er the hills and far awa!
It’s no the frosty winter wind, 5
It’s no the driving drift and snaw;
But aye the tear comes in my e’e,
To think on him that’s far awa.
My father pat me frae his door,
My friends they hae disown’d me a’; 10
But I hae ane will tak my part,
The bonie lad that’s far awa.
A pair o’ glooves he bought to me,
And silken snoods he gae me twa;
And I will wear them for his sake, 15
The bonie lad that’s far awa.
O weary Winter soon will pass,
And Spring will cleed the birken shaw;
And my young babie will be born,
And he’ll be hame that’s far awa. 20
Chronological List of Poems
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222.
Verses to Clarinda, with Drinking Glasses
Sent with a Pair of Wine-Glasses.
FAIR Empress of the Poet’s soul,
And Queen of Poetesses;
Clarinda, take this little boon,
This humble pair of glasses:
And fill them up with generous juice, 5
As generous as your mind;
And pledge them to the generous toast,
“The whole of human kind!”
“To those who love us!” second fill;
But not to those whom we love; 10
Lest we love those who love not us —
A third— “To thee and me, Love!”
Chronological List of Poems
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223.
The Chevalier’s Lament (Song)
Air— “Captain O’Kean.”
THE SMALL birds rejoice in the green leaves returning,
The murmuring streamlet winds clear thro’ the vale;
The primroses blow in the dews of the morning,
And wild scatter’d cowslips bedeck the green dale:
But what can give pleasure, or what can seem fair, 5
When the lingering moments are numbered by care?
No birds sweetly singing, nor flow’rs gaily springing,
Can soothe the sad bosom of joyless despair.
The deed that I dared, could it merit their malice?
A king and a father to place on his throne! 10
His right are these hills, and his right are these valleys,
Where the wild beasts find shelter, tho’ I can find none!
But ‘tis not my suff’rings, thus wretched, forlorn,
My brave gallant friends, ‘tis your ruin I mourn;
Your faith proved so loyal in hot bloody trial, — 15
Alas! I can make it no better return!
Chronological List of Poems
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224.
Epistle to Hugh Parker
IN this strange land, this uncouth clime,
A land unknown to prose or rhyme;
Where words ne’er cross’t the Muse’s heckles,
Nor limpit in poetic shackles:
A land that Prose did never view it, 5
Except when drunk he stacher’t thro’ it;
Here, ambush’d by the chimla cheek,
Hid in an atmosphere of reek,
I hear a wheel thrum i’ the neuk,
I hear it — for in vain I leuk. 10
The red peat gleams, a fiery kernel,
Enhuskèd by a fog infernal:
Here, for my wonted rhyming raptures,
I sit and count my sins by chapters;
For life and spunk like ither Christians, 15
I’m dwindled down to mere existence,
Wi’ nae converse but Gallowa’ bodies,
Wi’ nae kenn’d face but Jenny Geddes,
Jenny, my Pegasean pride!
Dowie she saunters down Nithside, 20
And aye a westlin leuk she throws,
While tears hap o’er her auld brown nose!
Was it for this, wi’ cannie care,
Thou bure the Bard through many a shire?
At howes, or hillocks never stumbled, 25
And late or early never grumbled? —
O had I power like inclination,
I’d heeze thee up a constellation,
To canter with the Sagitarre,
Or loup the ecliptic like a bar; 30
Or turn the pole like any arrow;
Or, when auld Phoebus bids good-morrow,
Down the zodiac urge the race,
And cast dirt on his godship’s face;
For I could lay my bread and kail 35
He’d ne’er cast saut upo’ thy tail. —
Wi’ a’ this care and a’ this grief,
And sma’, sma’ prospect of relief,
And nought but peat reek i’ my head,
How can I write what ye can read? — 40
Tarbolton, twenty-fourth o’ June,
Ye’ll find me in a better tune;
But till we meet and weet our whistle,
Tak this excuse for nae epistle.
ROBERT BURNS.
Chronological List of Poems
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225.
Of a’ the Airts the Wind can Blaw (Song)
Tune— “Miss Admiral Gordon’s Strathspey.”
OF a’ the airts the wind can blaw,
I dearly like the west,
For there the bonie lassie lives,
The lassie I lo’e best:
There’s wild-woods grow, and rivers row, 5
And mony a hill between:
But day and night my fancys’ flight
Is ever wi’ my Jean.
I see her in the dewy flowers,
I see her sweet and fair: 10
I hear her in the tunefu’ birds,
I hear her charm the air:
There’s not a bonie flower that springs,
By fountain, shaw, or green;
There’s not a bonie bird that sings, 15
But minds me o’ my Jean.
Chronological List of Poems
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226.
I hae a Wife o’ my Ain (Song)
I HAE a wife of my ain,
I’ll partake wi’ naebody;
I’ll take Cuckold frae nane,
I’ll gie Cuckold to naebody.
I hae a penny to spend, 5
There — thanks to naebody!
I hae naething to lend,
I’ll borrow frae naebody.
I am naebody’s lord,
I’ll be slave to naebody; 10
I hae a gude braid sword,
I’ll tak dunts frae naebody.
I’ll be merry and free,
I’ll be sad for naebody;
Naebody cares for me, 15
I care for naebody.
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227.
Verses on Friars’ Carse Hermitage (First Version)
GLENRIDDEL HERMITAGE, June 28th, 1788.
THOU whom chance may hither lead,
Be thou clad in russet weed,
Be thou deckt in silken stole,
Grave these maxims on thy soul.
Life is but a day at most, 5
Sprung from night, in darkness lost:
Hope not sunshine every hour,
Fear not clouds will always lour.
Happiness is but a name,
Make content and ease thy aim, 10
Ambition is a meteor-gleam;
Fame, an idle restless dream;
Peace, the tend’rest flow’r of spring;
Pleasures, insects on the wing;
Those that sip the dew alone — 15
Make the butterflies thy own;
Those that would the bloom devour —
Crush the locusts, save the flower.
For the future be prepar’d,
Guard wherever thou can’st guard; 20
But thy utmost duly done,
Welcome what thou can’st not shun.
Follies past, give thou to air,
Make their consequence thy care:
Keep the name of Man in mind, 25
And dishonour not thy kind.
Reverence with lowly heart
Him, whose wondrous work thou art;
Keep His Goodness still in view,
Thy trust, and thy example, too. 30
Stranger, go! Heaven be thy guide!
Quod the Beadsman of Nidside.
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228.
To Alex. Cunningham, Esq., Writer, Edinburgh
ELLISLAND, NITHSDALE, July 27th, 1788.
MY godlike friend — nay, do not stare,
You think the phrase is odd-like;
But “God is love,” the saints declare,
Then surely thou art god-like.
And is thy ardour still the same? 5
And kindled still at ANNA?
Others may boast a partial flame,
But thou art a volcano!
Ev’n Wedlock asks not love beyond
Death’s tie-dissolving portal; 10
But thou, omnipotently fond,
May’st promise love immortal!
Thy wounds such healing powers defy,
Such symptoms dire attend them,
That last great antihectic try — 15
MARRIAGE perhaps may mend them.
Sweet Anna has an air-a grace,
Divine, magnetic, touching:
She talks, she charms-but who can trace
The process of bewitching?
• • • • • • 20
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229.
Anna, thy Charms (Song)
ANNA, thy charms my bosom fire,
And waste my soul with care;
But ah! how bootless to admire,
When fated to despair!
Yet in thy presence, lovely Fair, 5
To hope may be forgiven;
For sure ‘twere impious to despair
So much in sight of heaven.
Chronological List of Poems
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230.
The Fête Champêtre
Tune— “Killiecrankie.”
O WHA will to Saint Stephen’s House,
To do our errands there, man?
O wha will to Saint Stephen’s House
O’ th’ merry lads of Ayr, man?
Or will we send a man o’ law? 5
Or will we send a sodger?
Or him wha led o’er Scotland a’
The meikle Ursa-Major?
Come, will ye court a noble lord,
Or buy a score o’lairds, man? 10
For worth and honour pawn their word,
Their vote shall be Glencaird’s, man.
Ane gies them coin, ane gies them wine,
Anither gies them clatter:
Annbank, wha guessed the ladies’ taste, 15
He gies a Fête Champêtre.
When Love and Beauty heard the news,
The gay green woods amang, man;
Where, gathering flowers, and busking bowers,
They heard the blackbird’s sang, man: 20
A vow, they sealed it with a kiss,
Sir Politics to fetter;
As their’s alone, the patent bliss,
To hold a Fête Champêtre.
Then mounted Mirth, on gleesome wing 25
O’er hill and dale she flew, man;
Ilk wimpling burn, ilk crystal spring,
Ilk glen and shaw she knew, man:
She summon’d every social sprite,
That sports by wood or water, 30
On th’ bonie banks of Ayr to meet,
And keep this Fête Champêtre.
Cauld Boreas, wi’ his boisterous crew,
Were bound to stakes like kye, man,
And Cynthia’s car, o’ silver fu’, 35
Clamb up the starry sky, man:
Reflected beams dwell in the streams,
Or down the current shatter;
The western breeze steals thro’the trees,
To view this Fête Champêtre. 40
How many a robe sae gaily floats!
What sparkling jewels glance, man!
To Harmony’s enchanting notes,
As moves the mazy dance, man.
The echoing wood, the winding flood, 45
Like Paradise did glitter,
When angels met, at Adam’s yett,
To hold their Fête Champêtre.
When Politics came there, to mix
And make his ether-stane, man! 50
He circled round the magic ground,
But entrance found he nane, man:
He blush’d for shame, he quat his name,
Forswore it, every letter,
Wi’ humble prayer to join and share 55
This festive Fête Champêtre.
Chronological List of Poems
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231.
Epistle to Robert Graham, Esq., of Fintry
Requesting a Favour
WHEN Nature her great master-piece design’d,
And fram’d her last, best work, the human mind,
Her eye intent on all the mazy plan,
She form’d of various parts the various Man.
Then first she calls the useful many forth; 5
Plain plodding Industry, and sober Worth:
Thence peasants, farmers, native sons of earth,
And merchandise’ whole genus take their birth:
Each prudent cit a warm existence finds,
And all mechanics’ many-apron’d kinds. 10
Some other rarer sorts are wanted yet,
The lead and buoy are needful to the net:
The caput mortuum of gross desires
Makes a material for mere knights and squires;
The martial phosphorus is taught to flow, 15
She kneads the lumpish philosophic dough,
Then marks th’ unyielding mass with grave designs,
Law, physic, politics, and deep divines;
Last, she sublimes th’ Aurora of the poles,
The flashing elements of female souls.
20
The order’d system fair before her stood,
Nature, well pleas’d, pronounc’d it very good;
But ere she gave creating labour o’er,
Half-jest, she tried one curious labour more.
Some spumy, fiery, ignis fatuus matter, 25
Such as the slightest breath of air might scatter;
With arch-alacrity and conscious glee,
(Nature may have her whim as well as we,
Her Hogarth-art perhaps she meant to show it),
She forms the thing and christens it — a Poet: 30
Creature, tho’ oft the prey of care and sorrow,
When blest to-day, unmindful of to-morrow;
A being form’d t’ amuse his graver friends,
Admir’d and prais’d-and there the homage ends;
A mortal quite unfit for Fortune’s strife, 35
Yet oft the sport of all the ills of life;
Prone to enjoy each pleasure riches give,
Yet haply wanting wherewithal to live;
Longing to wipe each tear, to heal each groan,
Yet frequent all unheeded in his own. 40
But honest Nature is not quite a Turk,
She laugh’d at first, then felt for her poor work:
Pitying the propless climber of mankind,
She cast about a standard tree to find;
And, to support his helpless woodbine state, 45
Attach’d him to the generous, truly great:
A title, and the only one I claim,
To lay strong hold for help on bounteous Graham.
Pity the tuneful Muses’ hapless train,
Weak, timid landsmen on life’s stormy main! 50
Their hearts no selfish stern absorbent stuff,
That never gives — tho’ humbly takes enough;
The little fate allows, they share as soon,
Unlike sage proverb’d Wisdom’s hard-wrung boon:
The world were blest did bliss on them depend, 55
Ah, that “the friendly e’er should want a friend!”
Let Prudence number o’er each sturdy son,
Who life and wisdom at one race begun,
Who feel by reason and who give by rule,
(Instinct’s a brute, and sentiment a fool!) 60
Who make poor “will do” wait upon “I should” —
We own they’re prudent, but who feels they’re good?
Ye wise ones hence! ye hurt the social eye!
God’s image rudely etch’d on base alloy!
But come ye who the godlike pleasure know, 65
Heaven’s attribute distinguished — to bestow!
Whose arms of love would grasp the human race:
Come thou who giv’st with all a courtier’s grace;
FRIEND OF MY LIFE, true patron of my rhymes!
Prop of my dearest hopes for future times. 70
Why shrinks my soul half blushing, half afraid,
Backward, abash’d to ask thy friendly aid?
I know my need, I know thy giving hand,
I crave thy friendship at thy kind command;
But there are such who court the tuneful Nine — 75
Heavens! should the branded character be mine!
Whose verse in manhood’s pride sublimely flows,
Yet vilest reptiles in their begging prose.
Mark, how their lofty independent spirit
Soars on the spurning wing of injured merit! 80
Seek not the proofs in private life to find
Pity the best of words should be but wind!
So, to heaven’s gates the lark’s shrill song ascends,
But grovelling on the earth the carol ends.
In all the clam’rous cry of starving want, 85
They dun Benevolence with shameless front;
Oblige them, patronise their tinsel lays —
They persecute you all your future days!
Ere my poor soul such deep damnation stain,
My horny fist assume the plough again, 90
The pie-bald jacket let me patch once more,
On eighteenpence a week I’ve liv’d before.
Tho’, thanks to Heaven, I dare even that last shift,
I trust, meantime, my boon is in thy gift:
That, plac’d by thee upon the wish’d-for height, 95
Where, man and nature fairer in her sight,
My Muse may imp her wing for some sublimer flight.
Chronological List of Poems
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232.
The Day Returns (Song)
Tune— “Seventh of November.”
THE DAY returns, my bosom burns,
The blissful day we twa did meet:
Tho’ winter wild in tempest toil’d,
Ne’er summer-sun was half sae sweet.
Than a’ the pride that loads the tide, 5
And crosses o’er the sultry line;
Than kingly robes, than crowns and globes,
Heav’n gave me more — it made thee mine!
While day and night can bring delight,
Or Nature aught of pleasure give; 10
While joys above my mind can move,
For thee, and thee alone, I live.
When that grim foe of life below
Comes in between to make us part,
The iron hand that breaks our band, 15
It breaks my bliss — it breaks my heart!
Chronological List of Poems
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233.
O were I on Parnassus Hill (Song)
Tune— “My love is lost to me.”
O, WERE I on Parnassus hill,
Or had o’ Helicon my fill,
That I might catch poetic skill,
To sing how dear I love thee!
But Nith maun be my Muse’s well, 5
My Muse maun be thy bonie sel’,
On Corsincon I’ll glowr and spell,
And write how dear I love thee.
Then come, sweet Muse, inspire my lay!
For a’ the lee-lang simmer’s day 10
I couldna sing, I couldna say,
How much, how dear, I love thee,
I see thee dancing o’er the green,
Thy waist sae jimp, thy limbs sae clean,
Thy tempting lips, thy roguish een — 15
By Heaven and Earth I love thee!
By night, by day, a-field, at hame,
The thoughts o’ thee my breast inflame:
And aye I muse and sing thy name —
I only live to love thee. 20
Tho’ I were doom’d to wander on,
Beyond the sea, beyond the sun,
Till my last weary sand was run;
Till then — and then I love thee!
Chronological List of Poems
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234.
A Mother’s Lament for her Son’s Death
For the Death of Her Son.
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, 5
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; 10
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 15
With him I love, at rest!
Chronological List of Poems
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235.
The Fall of the Leaf (Song)
THE LAZY mist hangs from the brow of the hill,
Concealing the course of the dark-winding rill;
How languid the scenes, late so sprightly, appear!
As Autumn to Winter resigns the pale year.
The forests are leafless, the meadows are brown, 5
And all the gay foppery of summer is flown:
Apart let me wander, apart let me muse,
How quick Time is flying, how keen Fate pursues!
How long I have liv’d — but how much liv’d in vain,
How little of life’s scanty span may remain, 10
What aspects old Time in his progress has worn,
What ties cruel Fate, in my bosom has torn.
How foolish, or worse, till our summit is gain’d!
And downward, how weaken’d, how darken’d, how pain’d!
Life is not worth having with all it can give — 15
For something beyond it poor man sure must live.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
236.
I Reign in Jeanie’s Bosom (Song)
LOUIS, what reck I by thee,
Or Geordie on his ocean?
Dyvor, beggar louns to me,
I reign in Jeanie’s bosom!
Let her crown my love her law, 5
And in her breast enthrone me,
Kings and nations — swith awa’!
Reif randies, I disown ye!
Chronological List of Poems
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237.
It is na, Jean, thy Bonie Face (Song)
IT is na, Jean, thy bonie face,
Nor shape that I admire;
Altho’ thy beauty and thy grace
Might weel awauk desire.
Something, in ilka part o’ thee, 5
To praise, to love, I find,
But dear as is thy form to me,
Still dearer is thy mind.
Nae mair ungenerous wish I hae,
Nor stronger in my breast, 10
Than, if I canna make thee sae,
At least to see thee blest.
Content am I, if heaven shall give
But happiness, to thee;
And as wi’ thee I’d wish to live, 15
For thee I’d bear to die.
Chronological List of Poems
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238.
Auld Lang Syne (Song)
SHOULD auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!
Chorus. — For auld lang syne, my dear, 5
For auld lang syne.
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
And surely ye’ll be your pint stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine! 10
And we’ll tak a cup o’kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou’d the gowans fine; 15
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
Sin’ auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.
We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine; 20
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin’ auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.
And there’s a hand, my trusty fere!
And gie’s a hand o’ thine! 25
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
239.
My Bonie Mary (Song)
GO, fetch to me a pint o’ wine,
And fill it in a silver tassie;
That I may drink before I go,
A service to my bonie lassie.
The boat rocks at the pier o’ Leith; 5
Fu’ loud the wind blaws frae the Ferry;
The ship rides by the Berwick-law,
And I maun leave my bonie Mary.
The trumpets sound, the banners fly,
The glittering spears are ranked ready: 10
The shouts o’ war are heard afar,
The battle closes deep and bloody;
It’s not the roar o’ sea or shore,
Wad mak me langer wish to tarry!
Nor shouts o’ war that’s heard afar — 15
It’s leaving thee, my bonie Mary!
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
240.
Verses on a Parting Kiss
HUMID seal of soft affections,
Tenderest pledge of future bliss,
Dearest tie of young connections,
Love’s first snowdrop, virgin kiss!
Speaking silence, dumb confession, 5
Passion’s birth, and infant’s play,
Dove-like fondness, chaste concession,
Glowing dawn of future day!
Sorrowing joy, Adieu’s last action,
(Lingering lips must now disjoin), 10
What words can ever speak affection
So thrilling and sincere as thine!
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
241.
Written in Friars’ Carse Hermitage (Second Version)
THOU whom chance may hither lead,
Be thou clad in russet weed,
Be thou deckt in silken stole,
Grave these counsels on thy soul.
Life is but a day at most, 5
Sprung from night, — in darkness lost;
Hope not sunshine ev’ry hour,
Fear not clouds will always lour.
As Youth and Love with sprightly dance,
Beneath thy morning star advance, 10
Pleasure with her siren air
May delude the thoughtless pair;
Let Prudence bless Enjoyment’s cup,
Then raptur’d sip, and sip it up.
As thy day grows warm and high, 15
Life’s meridian flaming nigh,
Dost thou spurn the humble vale?
Life’s proud summits wouldst thou scale?
Check thy climbing step, elate,
Evils lurk in felon wait: 20
Dangers, eagle-pinioned, bold,
Soar around each cliffy hold!
While cheerful Peace, with linnet song,
Chants the lowly dells among.
As the shades of ev’ning close, 25
Beck’ning thee to long repose;
As life itself becomes disease,
Seek the chimney-nook of ease;
There ruminate with sober thought,
On all thou’st seen, and heard, and wrought, 30
And teach the sportive younkers round,
Saws of experience, sage and sound:
Say, man’s true, genuine estimate,
The grand criterion of his fate,
Is not, — Arth thou high or low? 35
Did thy fortune ebb or flow?
Did many talents gild thy span?
Or frugal Nature grudge thee one?
Tell them, and press it on their mind,
As thou thyself must shortly find, 40
The smile or frown of awful Heav’n,
To virtue or to Vice is giv’n,
Say, to be just, and kind, and wise —
There solid self-enjoyment lies;
That foolish, selfish, faithless ways 45
Lead to be wretched, vile, and base.
Thus resign’d and quiet, creep
To the bed of lasting sleep, —
Sleep, whence thou shalt ne’er awake,
Night, where dawn shall never break, 50
Till future life, future no more,
To light and joy the good restore,
To light and joy unknown before.
Stranger, go! Heav’n be thy guide!
Quod the Beadsman of Nithside. 55
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
242.
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