by Robert Burns
This list, wi’ my ain hand I wrote it,
The day and date as under noted;
Then know all ye whom it concerns, 75
Subscripsi huic, ROBERT BURNS.
MOSSGIEL, February 22, 1786.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
97.
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, 5
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; 10
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, 15
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, 20
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 informèd weel, 25
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. 30
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
98.
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, 5
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: 10
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, 15
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. 20
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, 25
The blossom of our gentry!
An’ may he wear and auld man’s beard,
A credit to his country.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
99.
To a Louse
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 5
On sic a place.
Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,
Detested, shunn’d by saunt an’ sinner,
How daur ye set your fit upon her —
Sae fine a lady? 10
Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner
On some poor body.
Swith! in some beggar’s haffet squattle;
There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle,
Wi’ ither kindred, jumping cattle, 15
In shoals and nations;
Whaur horn nor bane ne’er daur unsettle
Your thick plantations.
Now haud you there, ye’re out o’ sight,
Below the fatt’rels, snug and tight; 20
Na, faith ye yet! ye’ll no be right,
Till ye’ve got on it —
The verra tapmost, tow’rin height
O’ Miss’ bonnet.
My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out, 25
As plump an’ grey as ony groset:
O for some rank, mercurial rozet,
Or fell, red smeddum,
I’d gie you sic a hearty dose o’t,
Wad dress your droddum. 30
I wad na been surpris’d to spy
You on an auld wife’s flainen toy;
Or aiblins some bit dubbie boy,
On’s wyliecoat;
But Miss’ fine Lunardi! fye! 35
How daur ye do’t?
O Jeany, dinna toss your head,
An’ set your beauties a’ abread!
Ye little ken what cursed speed
The blastie’s makin: 40
Thae winks an’ finger-ends, I dread,
Are notice takin.
O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us, 45
An’ foolish notion:
What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,
An’ ev’n devotion!
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
100.
Inscribed on a Work of Hannah More’s
Presented to the Author by a Lady.
THOU flatt’ring mark of friendship kind,
Still may thy pages call to mind
The dear, the beauteous donor;
Tho’ sweetly female ev’ry part,
Yet such a head, and more the heart 5
Does both the sexes honour:
She show’d her taste refin’d and just,
When she selected thee;
Yet deviating, own I must,
For sae approving me: 10
But kind still I’ll mind still
The giver in the gift;
I’ll bless her, an’ wiss her
A Friend aboon the lift.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
101.
Composed in Spring (Song)
Tune— “Jockey’s Grey Breeks.”
AGAIN rejoicing Nature sees
Her robe assume its vernal hues:
Her leafy locks wave in the breeze,
All freshly steep’d in morning dews.
Chorus. — And maun I still on Menie doat, 5
And bear the scorn that’s in her e’e?
For it’s jet, jet black, an’ it’s like a hawk,
An’ it winna let a body be.
In vain to me the cowslips blaw,
In vain to me the vi’lets spring; 10
In vain to me in glen or shaw,
The mavis and the lintwhite sing.
And maun I still, &c.
The merry ploughboy cheers his team,
Wi’ joy the tentie seedsman stalks; 15
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, 20
The stately swan majestic swims,
And ev’ry thing is blest but I.
And maun I still, &c.
The sheep-herd steeks his faulding slap,
And o’er the moorlands whistles shill: 25
Wi’ wild, unequal, wand’ring step,
I meet him on the dewy hill.
And maun I still, &c.
And when the lark, ‘tween light and dark,
Blythe waukens by the daisy’s side, 30
And mounts and sings on flittering wings,
A woe-worn ghaist I hameward glide.
And maun I still, &c.
Come winter, with thine angry howl,
And raging, bend the naked tree; 35
Thy gloom will soothe my cheerless soul,
When nature all is sad like me!
And maun I still, &c.
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
102.
To a Mountain Daisy
On turning down with the Plough, in April, 1786.
WEE, modest crimson-tippèd flow’r,
Thou’s met me in an evil hour;
For I maun crush amang the stoure
Thy slender stem:
To spare thee now is past my pow’r, 5
Thou bonie gem.
Alas! it’s no thy neibor sweet,
The bonie lark, companion meet,
Bending thee ‘mang the dewy weet,
Wi’ spreckl’d breast! 10
When upward-springing, blythe, to greet
The purpling east.
Cauld blew the bitter-biting north
Upon thy early, humble birth;
Yet cheerfully thou glinted forth 15
Amid the storm,
Scarce rear’d above the parent-earth
Thy tender form.
The flaunting flow’rs our gardens yield,
High shelt’ring woods and wa’s maun shield; 20
But thou, beneath the random bield
O’ clod or stane,
Adorns the histie stibble field,
Unseen, alane.
There, in thy scanty mantle clad, 25
Thy snawie bosom sun-ward spread,
Thou lifts thy unassuming head
In humble guise;
But now the share uptears thy bed,
And low thou lies! 30
Such is the fate of artless maid,
Sweet flow’ret of the rural shade!
By love’s simplicity betray’d,
And guileless trust;
Till she, like thee, all soil’d, is laid 35
Low i’ the dust.
Such is the fate of simple bard,
On life’s rough ocean luckless starr’d!
Unskilful he to note the card
Of prudent lore, 40
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 45
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; 50
Stern Ruin’s plough-share drives elate,
Full on thy bloom,
Till crush’d beneath the furrow’s weight,
Shall be thy doom!
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
103.
To Ruin
ALL hail! inexorable lord!
At whose destruction-breathing word,
The mightiest empires fall!
Thy cruel, woe-delighted train,
The ministers of grief and pain, 5
A sullen welcome, all!
With stern-resolv’d, despairing eye,
I see each aimèd dart;
For one has cut my dearest tie,
And quivers in my heart. 10
Then low’ring, and pouring,
The storm no more I dread;
Tho’ thick’ning, and black’ning,
Round my devoted head.
And thou grim Pow’r by life abhorr’d, 15
While life a pleasure can afford,
Oh! hear a wretch’s pray’r!
Nor more I shrink appall’d, afraid;
I court, I beg thy friendly aid,
To close this scene of care! 20
When shall my soul, in silent peace,
Resign life’s joyless day —
My weary heart is throbbing cease,
Cold mould’ring in the clay?
No fear more, no tear more, 25
To stain my lifeless face,
Enclaspèd, and grasped,
Within thy cold embrace!
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
104.
The Lament
Occasioned by the unfortunate issue of a Friend’s Amour.
“Alas! how oft does goodness would itself,
And sweet affection prove the spring of woe!”
HOME.
O THOU pale orb that silent shines
While care-untroubled mortals sleep!
Thou seest a wretch who inly pines.
And wanders here to wail and weep!
With woe I nightly vigils keep, 5
Beneath thy wan, unwarming beam;
And mourn, in lamentation deep,
How life and love are all a dream!
I joyless view thy rays adorn
The faintly-marked, distant hill; 10
I joyless view thy trembling horn,
Reflected in the gurgling rill:
My fondly-fluttering heart, be still!
Thou busy pow’r, remembrance, cease!
Ah! must the agonizing thrill 15
For ever bar returning peace!
No idly-feign’d, poetic pains,
My sad, love-lorn lamentings claim:
No shepherd’s pipe — Arcadian strains;
No fabled tortures, quaint and tame. 20
The plighted faith, the mutual flame,
The oft-attested pow’rs above,
The promis’d father’s tender name;
These were the pledges of my love!
Encircled in her clasping arms, 25
How have the raptur’d moments flown!
How have I wish’d for fortune’s charms,
For her dear sake, and her’s alone!
And, must I think it! is she gone,
My secret heart’s exulting boast? 30
And does she heedless hear my groan?
And is she ever, ever lost?
Oh! can she bear so base a heart,
So lost to honour, lost to truth,
As from the fondest lover part, 35
The plighted husband of her youth?
Alas! life’s path may be unsmooth!
Her way may lie thro’ rough distress!
Then, who her pangs and pains will soothe
Her sorrows share, and make them less? 40
Ye wingèd hours that o’er us pass’d,
Enraptur’d more, the more enjoy’d,
Your dear remembrance in my breast
My fondly-treasur’d thoughts employ’d:
That breast, how dreary now, and void, 45
For her too scanty once of room!
Ev’n ev’ry ray of hope destroy’d,
And not a wish to gild the gloom!
The morn, that warns th’ approaching day,
Awakes me up to toil and woe; 50
I see the hours in long array,
That I must suffer, lingering, slow:
Full many a pang, and many a throe,
Keen recollection’s direful train,
Must wring my soul, were Phoebus, low, 55
Shall kiss the distant western main.
And when my nightly couch I try,
Sore harass’d out with care and grief,
My toil-beat nerves, and tear-worn eye,
Keep watchings with the nightly thief: 60
Or if I slumber, fancy, chief,
; Reigns, haggard-wild, in sore affright:
Ev’n day, all-bitter, brings relief
From such a horror-breathing night.
O thou bright queen, who o’er th’ expanse 65
Now highest reign’st, with boundless sway
Oft has thy silent-marking glance
Observ’d us, fondly-wand’ring, stray!
The time, unheeded, sped away,
While love’s luxurious pulse beat high, 70
Beneath thy silver-gleaming ray,
To mark the mutual-kindling eye.
Oh! scenes in strong remembrance set!
Scenes, never, never to return!
Scenes, if in stupor I forget, 75
Again I feel, again I burn!
From ev’ry joy and pleasure torn,
Life’s weary vale I’ll wander thro’;
And hopeless, comfortless, I’ll mourn
A faithless woman’s broken vow! 80
Chronological List of Poems
Alphabetical List of Poems
105.
Despondency: An Ode
OPPRESS’D with grief, oppress’d with care,
A burden more than I can bear,
I set me down and sigh;
O life! thou art a galling load,
Along a rough, a weary road, 5
To wretches such as I!
Dim backward as I cast my view,
What sick’ning scenes appear!
What sorrows yet may pierce me through,
Too justly I may fear! 10