Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

LXXIII.

[These lines seem to owe their origin to the precept of Mickle.

"The present moment is our ain,
The next we never saw."]

HERE'S a bottle and an honest friend!
What wad you wish for mair, man?
Wha kens before his life may end,

What his share may be o' care, man?
Then catch the moments as they fly,
And use them as ye ought, man!
Believe me, happiness is shy,

And comes not ay when sought, man.

LXXIV.

[The sentiment which these lines express, was one familiar to Burns, in the early, as well as concluding days of his life.]

THOUGH fickle Fortune has deceived me,

She promis'd fair and perform'd but ill; Of mistress, friends, and wealth bereav'd me, Yet I bear a heart shall support me still.

I'll act with prudence as far's I'm able,
But if success I must never find,
Then come misfortune, I bid thee welcome,
I'll meet thee with an undaunted mind.

LXXV.

TO JOHN KENNEDY.

[The John Kennedy to whom these verses and the succeeding lines were addressed, lived, in 1796, at Dumfrieshouse, and his taste was so much esteemed by the poet, that he submitted his "Cotter's Saturday Night" and the "Mountain Daisy" to his judgment: he seems to have been of a social disposition.]

Now, Kennedy, if foot or horse
E'er bring you in by Mauchline Cross,
L-d, man, there's lasses there wad force
A hermit's fancy,

And down the gate in faith they're worse
And mair unchancy.

It's no I like to sit an' swallow,
Then like a swine to puke and wallow,
But gie me just a true good fallow,
Wi' right ingine,

And spunkie ance to make us mellow,
And 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 tae you! Hae, there's my haun, I wiss you weel, And gude be wi' you.

ROBERT BUrness.

Mossgiel, 3 March, 1786.

LXXVI.

TO JOHN KENNEDY.

FAREWELL, dear friend! may guid luck hit you,
And 'mang her favourites admit you!
If e'er Detraction shore to smit you,

May nane believe him!
And ony deil that thinks to get you,

Good Lord deceive him! R. B.

Kilmarnock, August, 1786

LXXVII.

[Cromek found these characteristic lines among the poet's papers.]

THERE's naethin like the honest nappy!
Whaur'll ye e'er see men sae happy,
Or women, sonsie, saft an' sappy,

'Tween morn an' morn As them wha like to taste the drappie In glass or horn?

[graphic]
[blocks in formation]

THOU flattering work of friendship kind, Still may thy pages call to mind

The dear, the beauteous donor; Though sweetly female every part, Yet such a head, and more the heart, Does both the sexes honour.

She showed her taste refined and just, When she selected thee,

Yet deviating, own I must,

For so approving me!

But kind still, I'll mind still
The giver in the gift;

I'll bless her, and wiss her

A Friend above the Lift.

Mossgiel, April, 1786.

LXXIX.

TO THE MEN AND BRETHREN

OF THE

MASONIC LODGE AT TARBOLTON.

WITHIN your dear mansion may wayward contention,

Or withering envy ne'er enter:

May secrecy round be the mystical bound,
And brotherly love be the centre.
Edinburgh, 23 August, 1787.

Come bumpers high, express your joy,
The bowl we maun renew it;
The tappit-hen, gae bring her ben,
To welcome Willie Stewart.

My foes be strang, and friends be slack,
Ilk action may he rue it,

May woman on him turn her back,
That wrongs thee, Willie Stewart.

LXXXI.

PRAYER FOR ADAM ARMOUR.

[The origin of this prayer is curious. In 1785, the maid-servant of an innkeeper at Mauchline, having been caught in what old ballad-makers delicately call “the deed of shame," Adam Armour, the brother of the poet's bonnie Jean, with one or two more of his comrades, executed a rustic act of justice upon her, by parading her perforce through the village, placed on a rough, unpruned piece of wood : an unpleasant ceremony, vulgarly called "Riding the Stang." This was resented by Geordie and Nanse, the girl's master and mistress : law was resorted to, and as Adam had to hide till the matter was settled, he durst not venture home till late on the Saturday nights. In one of these home-comings he met Burns, who laughed when he heard the story, and said, "You have need of some one to pray for you." "No one can do that better than yourself," was the reply, and this humorous intercession was made on the instant, and, as it is said, "clean off loof." From Adam Armour I obtained the verses, and when he wrote them out, he told the story in which the prayer originated.]

LORD, pity me, for I am little,

An elf of mischief and of mettle,

That can like ony wabster's shuttle,

Jink there or here,

Though scarce as lang's a gude kale-whittle,

I'm unco queer.

[blocks in formation]
[graphic]

II.

LUCKLESS FORTUNE.

[These lines, as Burns informs us, were written to a tune of his own composing, consisting of three parts, and the words were the echo of the air.]

O RAGING fortune's withering blast
Has laid my leaf full low, O!
O raging fortune's withering blast
Has laid my leaf full low, O!
My stem was fair, my bud was green,
My blossom sweet did blow, O;
The dew fell fresh, the sun rose mild,
And made my branches grow, O.
But luckless fortune's northern storms
Laid a' my blossoms low, O;
But luckless fortune's northern storms
Laid a' my blossoms low, O.

IV.

TIBBIE, I HAE SEEN THE DAY. Tune-"Invercald's Reel."

[The Tibbie who "spak na, but gaed by like stoure," was, it is said, the daughter of a man who was laird of three acres of peatmoss, and thought it became her to put on airs in consequence.]·

CHORUS.

O Tibbie, I hae seen the day,
Ye wad na been sae shy;
For lack o' gear ye lightly me,
But, trowth, I care na by.

I.

YESTREEN I met you on the moor,
Ye spak na, but gaed by like stoure;
Ye geck at me because I'm poor,
But fient a hair care I.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »