Delphi Complete Works of Robert Burns (Illustrated) (Delphi Poets Series) (59 page)
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Authors: Robert Burns
322.
Chorus.
— Bonie wee thing, cannie wee thing,
Lovely wee thing, wert thou mine,
I wad wear thee in my bosom,
Lest my jewel it should tine.
WISHFULLY I look and languish
5
In that bonie face o’ thine,
And my heart it stounds wi’ anguish,
Lest my wee thing be na mine.
Bonie wee thing, &c.
Wit, and Grace, and Love, and Beauty,
10
In ae constellation shine;
To adore thee is my duty,
Goddess o’ this soul o’ mine!
Bonie wee thing, &c.
323.
On being asked why she had been formed so little, and Mrs. A —— so big.
ASK why God made the gem so small?
And why so huge the granite? —
Because God meant mankind should set
That higher value on it.
324.
The Charms of Lovely Davies (Song)
Tune
— “Miss Muir.”
O HOW shall I, unskilfu’, try
The poet’s occupation?
The tunefu’ powers, in happy hours,
That whisper inspiration;
Even they maun dare an effort mair
5
Than aught they ever gave us,
Ere they rehearse, in equal verse,
The charms o’ lovely Davies.
Each eye it cheers when she appears,
Like Phoebus in the morning,
10
When past the shower, and every flower
The garden is adorning:
As the wretch looks o’er Siberia’s shore,
When winter-bound the wave is;
Sae droops our heart, when we maun part
15
Frae charming, lovely Davies.
Her smile’s a gift frae ‘boon the lift,
That maks us mair than princes;
A sceptred hand, a king’s command,
Is in her darting glances;
20
The man in arms ‘gainst female charms
Even he her willing slave is,
He hugs his chain, and owns the reign
Of conquering, lovely Davies.
My Muse, to dream of such a theme,
25
Her feeble powers surrender:
The eagle’s gaze alone surveys
The sun’s meridian splendour.
I wad in vain essay the strain,
The deed too daring brave is;
30
I’ll drap the lyre, and mute admire
The charms o’ lovely Davies.
325.
What can a Young Lassie do wi’ an Auld Man? (Song)
WHAT can a young lassie, what shall a young lassie,
What can a young lassie do wi’ an auld man?
Bad luck on the penny that tempted my minnie
To sell her puir Jenny for siller an’ lan’.
Bad luck on the penny that tempted my minnie
5
To sell her puir Jenny for siller an’ lan’!
He’s always compleenin’ frae mornin’ to e’enin’,
He hoasts and he hirples the weary day lang;
He’s doylt and he’s dozin, his blude it is frozen, —
O dreary’s the night wi’ a crazy auld man!
10
He’s doylt and he’s dozin, his blude it is frozen,
O dreary’s the night wi’ a crazy auld man.
He hums and he hankers, he frets and he cankers,
I never can please him do a’ that I can;
He’s peevish an’ jealous o’ a’ the young fellows, —
15
O dool on the day I met wi’ an auld man!
He’s peevish an’ jealous o’ a’ the young fellows,
O dool on the day I met wi’ an auld man.
My auld auntie Katie upon me taks pity,
I’ll do my endeavour to follow her plan;
20
I’ll cross him an’ wrack him, until I heartbreak him
And then his auld brass will buy me a new pan,
I’ll cross him an’ wrack him, until I heartbreak him,
And then his auld brass will buy me a new pan.
326.
O LUVE will venture in where it daur na weel be seen,
O luve will venture in where wisdom ance has been;
But I will doun yon river rove, amang the wood sae green,
And a’ to pu’ a Posie to my ain dear May.
The primrose I will pu’, the firstling o’ the year,
5
And I will pu’ the pink, the emblem o’ my dear;
For she’s the pink o’ womankind, and blooms without a peer,
And a’ to be a Posie to my ain dear May.
I’ll pu’ the budding rose, when Phoebus peeps in view,
For it’s like a baumy kiss o’ her sweet, bonie mou;
10
The hyacinth’s for constancy wi’ its unchanging blue,
And a’ to be a Posie to my ain dear May.
The lily it is pure, and the lily it is fair,
And in her lovely bosom I’ll place the lily there;
The daisy’s for simplicity and unaffected air,
15
And a’ to be a Posie to my ain dear May.
The hawthorn I will pu’, wi’ its locks o’ siller gray,
Where, like an aged man, it stands at break o’ day;
But the songster’s nest within the bush I winna tak away
And a’ to be a Posie to my ain dear May.
20
The woodbine I will pu’, when the e’ening star is near,
And the diamond draps o’ dew shall be her een sae clear;
The violet’s for modesty, which weel she fa’s to wear,
And a’ to be a Posie to my ain dear May.
I’ll tie the Posie round wi’ the silken band o’ luve,
25
And I’ll place it in her breast, and I’ll swear by a’ above,
That to my latest draught o’ life the band shall ne’er remove,
And this will be a Posie to my ain dear May.
327.
On Glenriddell’s Fox breaking his chain: A Fragment
A Fragment, 1791.
THOU, Liberty, thou art my theme;
Not such as idle poets dream,
Who trick thee up a heathen goddess
That a fantastic cap and rod has;
Such stale conceits are poor and silly;
5
I paint thee out, a Highland filly,
A sturdy, stubborn, handsome dapple,
As sleek’s a mouse, as round’s an apple,
That when thou pleasest canst do wonders;
But when thy luckless rider blunders,
10
Or if thy fancy should demur there,
Wilt break thy neck ere thou go further.
These things premised, I sing a Fox,
Was caught among his native rocks,
And to a dirty kennel chained,
15
How he his liberty regained.
Glenriddell! Whig without a stain,
A Whig in principle and grain,
Could’st thou enslave a free-born creature,
A native denizen of Nature?
20
How could’st thou, with a heart so good,
(A better ne’er was sluiced with blood!)
Nail a poor devil to a tree,
That ne’er did harm to thine or thee?
The staunchest Whig Glenriddell was,
25
Quite frantic in his country’s cause;
And oft was Reynard’s prison passing,
And with his brother-Whigs canvassing
The Rights of Men, the Powers of Women,
With all the dignity of Freemen.
30
Sir Reynard daily heard debates
Of Princes’, Kings’, and Nations’ fates,
With many rueful, bloody stories
Of Tyrants, Jacobites, and Tories:
From liberty how angels fell,
35
That now are galley-slaves in hell;
How Nimrod first the trade began
Of binding Slavery’s chains on Man;
How fell Semiramis — G — d d-mn her!
Did first, with sacrilegious hammer,
40
(All ills till then were trivial matters)
For Man dethron’d forge hen-peck fetters;
How Xerxes, that abandoned Tory,
Thought cutting throats was reaping glory,
Until the stubborn Whigs of Sparta
45
Taught him great Nature’s Magna Charta;
How mighty Rome her fiat hurl’d
Resistless o’er a bowing world,
And, kinder than they did desire,
Polish’d mankind with sword and fire;
50
With much, too tedious to relate,
Of ancient and of modern date,
But ending still, how Billy Pitt
(Unlucky boy!) with wicked wit,
Has gagg’d old Britain, drain’d her coffer,
55
As butchers bind and bleed a heifer,
Thus wily Reynard by degrees,
In kennel listening at his ease,
Suck’d in a mighty stock of knowledge,
As much as some folks at a College;
60
Knew Britain’s rights and constitution,
Her aggrandisement, diminution,
How fortune wrought us good from evil;
Let no man, then, despise the Devil,
As who should say, ‘I never can need him,’
65
Since we to scoundrels owe our freedom.
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328.
HAIL, Poesie! thou Nymph reserv’d!
In chase o’ thee, what crowds hae swerv’d
Frae common sense, or sunk enerv’d
‘Mang heaps o’ clavers:
And och! o’er aft thy joes hae starv’d,
5
‘Mid a’ thy favours!
Say, Lassie, why, thy train amang,
While loud the trump’s heroic clang,
And sock or buskin skelp alang
To death or marriage;
10
Scarce ane has tried the shepherd-sang
But wi’ miscarriage?
In Homer’s craft Jock Milton thrives;
Eschylus’ pen Will Shakespeare drives;
Wee Pope, the knurlin’, till him rives
15
Horatian fame;
In thy sweet sang, Barbauld, survives
Even Sappho’s flame.
But thee, Theocritus, wha matches?
They’re no herd’s ballats, Maro’s catches;
20
Squire Pope but busks his skinklin’ patches
O’ heathen tatters:
I pass by hunders, nameless wretches,
That ape their betters.
In this braw age o’ wit and lear,
25
Will nane the Shepherd’s whistle mair
Blaw sweetly in its native air,
And rural grace;
And, wi’ the far-fam’d Grecian, share
A rival place?
30
Yes! there is ane; a Scottish callan!
There’s ane; come forrit, honest Allan!
Thou need na jouk behint the hallan,
A chiel sae clever;
The teeth o’ time may gnaw Tantallan,
35
But thou’s for ever.
Thou paints auld Nature to the nines,
In thy sweet Caledonian lines;
Nae gowden stream thro’ myrtle twines,
Where Philomel,
40
While nightly breezes sweep the vines,
Her griefs will tell!
In gowany glens thy burnie strays,
Where bonie lasses bleach their claes,
Or trots by hazelly shaws and braes,
45
Wi’ hawthorns gray,
Where blackbirds join the shepherd’s lays,
At close o’ day.
Thy rural loves are Nature’s sel’;
Nae bombast spates o’ nonsense swell;
50
Nae snap conceits, but that sweet spell
O’ witchin love,
That charm that can the strongest quell,
The sternest move.
