continue to move wonder and regret." But the world's "regret" in this matter has been very evanescent; for, although the abuses and absurdities here censured, in connexion with rural celebrations of the communion, have happily disappeared, it cannot be said that the lessons conveyed in the satire are no longer necessary. The communion was administered at Mauchline in those days but once a year, namely, on the second Sunday of August.] SONG, COMPOSED IN SPRING. Tune-"Johnny's Grey Breeks." AGAIN rejoicing Nature sees Her robe assume its vernal hues : In vain to me the cowslips blaw, In vain to me in glen or shaw, And maun I still, &c. The merry ploughboy cheers his team, But life to me's a weary dream, A dream of ane that never wauks. And maun I still, &c. The wanton coot the water skims, Amang the reeds the ducklings cry, 'This chorus is part of a song composed by a gentleman in Edinburgh, a particular friend of the author's. Menie is the common abbreviation of Mariamne.-R. B. More correctly, it is the abbreviate of Marion. The stately swan majestic swims, And maun I still, &c. The sheep-herd steeks his faulding slap, I meet him on the dewy hill. And maun I still, &c. And when the lark, 'tween light and dark, Come winter, with thine angry howl, " And maun I still, &c. [Slighted love was the occasion of this poem; and Burns told the truth in his footnote about the chorus being "part of a song composed by a gentleman in Edinburgh, a particular friend of the author's." This "gentleman in Edinburgh was none other than the bard himself, who of course was his own "particular friend;" and the substitution of the name "Menie” for Jeanie was a necessary part of the little ruse he chose here to adopt. In like manner, he poured forth about the same time his "Lament occasioned by the unfortunate issue of a friend's amour."] TO A MOUNTAIN DAISY. ON TURNING ONE DOWN WITH THE PLOUGH, IN WEE, modest, crimson-tippèd flow'r, For I maun crush amang the stoure Thy slender stem : To spare thee now is past my pow'r, Alas! it's no thy neibor sweet, Wi' spreckl'd breast! When upward-springing, blythe, to greet The purpling east. Cauld blew the bitter-biting north Amid the storm, Scarce rear'd above the parent-earth Thy tender form. The flaunting flow'rs our gardens yield, O' clod or stane, Adorns the histie ‡ stibble field, Unseen, alane. There, in thy scanty mantle clad, In humble guise ; But now the share uptears thy bed, And low thou lies! Such is the fate of simple bard, On life's rough ocean luckless starr'd! Of prudent lore, Till billows rage, and gales blow hard, And whelm him o'er ! Such fate to suffering worth is giv'n, Who long with wants and woes has striv'n, By human pride or cunning driv'n To mis'ry's brink; Till wrench'd of ev'ry stay but Heav'n, He, ruin'd, sink! Ev'n thou who mourn'st the Daisy's fate, That fate is thine—no distant date ; Full on thy bloom, Till crush'd beneath the furrow's weight, Shall be thy doom! [On oth April 1786, our poet enclosed this "little gem" to his friend John Kennedy. In that MS. it is called "The Gowan," a title subsequently changed for the English appellation, as above. Regarding this poem, Burns says, "I am a good deal pleased with some of the sentiments, as they are just the native querulous feelings of a heart which (as the elegantly melting Gray says) 'melancholy has marked for her own."" It is curious to note that the closing couplet of each of the four concluding verses begins with the same word-"Till.”] TO RUIN. ALL hail, inexorable lord! At whose destruction-breathing word, With stern-resolv'd, despairing eye, For one has cut my dearest tie, And quivers in my heart. Then low'ring, and pouring, The storm no more I dread; And thou grim Pow'r by life abhorr'd, My weary heart its throbbings cease, [Here the tone of the closing stanza of the "Daisy" is taken up, and the theme expanded into a little ode.] THE LAMENT, OCCASIONED BY THE UNFORTUNATE ISSUE OF A "Alas! how oft does goodness wound itself, O THOU pale orb that silent shines And wanders here to wail and weep! HOME. |