165 176 175 For them and for their little ones provide; But chiefly, in their hearts with grace divine pre. side. From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, That makes her loved at home, revered abroad: What is a lordling's pomp?-a cumbrous Disguising oft the wretch of human kind, Studied in arts of hell, in wickedness refined! O Scotia! my dear, my native soil! For whom my warmest wish to Heaven is sent, Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content! And oh! may Heaven their simple lives prevent Then, howe'er crowns and coronets be rent, 180 And stand a wall of fire around their much-loved isle. O Thou! who poured the patriotic tide, That streamed through Wallace's undaunted heart, 166. Quoted from Pope's Essay on Man. 182. William Wallace, the peer of Robert Bruce among Scottish heroes. 185 Who dared to nobly stem tyrannic pride, Or nobly die, the second glorious part, (The patriot's God, peculiarly Thou art, His friend, inspirer, guardian, and reward!) Oh never, never, Scotia's realm desert; But still the patriot, and the patriot bard, In bright succession raise, her ornament and guard! TO A MOUSE, ON TURNING UP HER NEST WITH THE PLOUGH, NOVEM→ BER, 1785. The lines To a Mouse seem by report to have been composed while Burns was actually ploughing. One of the poet's first editors wrote: "John Blane, who had acted as gaudsman to Burns, and who lived sixty years afterwards, had a distinct recollection of the turning up of the mouse. Like a thoughtless youth as he was, he ran after the creature to kill it, but was checked and recalled by his master, who he observed became thereafter thoughtful and abstracted. Burns, who treated his servants with the familiarity of fellow-laborers, soon afterwards read the poem to Blane." WEE, sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie, Wi' bickering brattle! I wad be laith to rin and chase thee, Headnote, line 3, gaudsman, ploughboy. 1. sleekit, sleek. 3. needna, need not. 4. bickering brattle, clattering scamper. 5, 6. The boy's attempt to kill the mouse may well have been in the poet's mind here. 5. wad, would; laith, loath. 6. pattle, plough-staff. 10 I'm truly sorry man's dominion Which makes thee startle At me, thy poor earthborn companion, I doubtna, whiles, but thou may thieve; What then? poor beastie, thou maun live! 15 A daimen icker in a thrave 'S a sma' request: I'll get a blessin' wi' the lave, Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin! And bleak December's winds ensuin', 25 Thou saw the fields laid bare and waste, 30 Till, crash! the cruel coulter passed Out through thy cell. 13. whiles, sometimes. 14. maun, must. 15. daimen icker, ear of corn now and then; thrave, twenty four sheaves. 21. big, build; ane, one. 22. foggage, stray vegetable material used for nests. 24. baith, both; snell, biting. That wee bit heap o' leaves and stibble 35 To thole the winter's sleety dribble, 40 But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane, And lea'e us nought but grief and pain, Still thou art blest, compared wi' me! And forward, though I canna see, TO A MOUNTAIN DAISY, ON TURNING ONE DOWN WITH THE PLOUGH IN APRIL, 1786. WEE, modest, crimson-tippèd flower, 31. stibble, stubble. 32. monie, many. 34. but, without; hald, abiding-place. 35. thole, endure. 36. cranreuch cauld, cold hoar-frost. 37. no thy lane, not alone. 40. a-gley, askew. For I maun crush amang the stoure To spare thee now is past my power, Alas! it's no thy neebor sweet, When upward-springing, blithe, to greet Cauld blew the bitter biting north Scarce reared above the parent earth The flaunting flowers our gardens yield, 20 High sheltering woods and wa's maun shield, But thou, beneath the random bield O'clod or stane, Adorns the histie stibble-field, 25 There, in thy scanty mantle clad, Thy snawie bosom sunward spread, 3. stoure, dust. 21. bield, shelter. 26. snawie, snowy. |