The Canongate Burns (23 page)

The Sun had clos'd the
winter-day
,

The Curlers quat their roaring play,
quit

And hunger'd Maukin taen her way,
hare, taken

               To kail-yards green,
kitchen-gardens

5
While faithless snaws ilk step betray
snows each

               Whare she has been.
where

The Thresher's weary
flingin-tree
,
flailing

The lee-lang day had tired me;
live-long

And when the Day had clos'd his e'e
eye

10
               Far i' the West,

Ben i' the
Spence
, right pensivelie,
back, parlour

               I gaed to rest.
went

There, lanely by the ingle-cheek,
lonely, fire side

I sat and ey'd the spewing reek,
smoke

15
That fill'd, wi' hoast-provoking smeek,
cough, smoke

               The auld clay biggin;
old, building

An' heard the restless rattons squeak
rats

               About the riggin.
roof

All in this mottie, misty clime,
dusty specks

20
I backward mus'd on wasted time:

How I had spent my
youthfu' prime
,

               An' done naething,
nothing

But stringing blethers up in rhyme,
nonesense stories

               For fools to sing.

25
Had I to guid advice but harket,
good, listened

I might, by this, hae led a market,
have

Or strutted in a bank and clarket
clarked

               My
Cash-Account
:

While here, half-mad, half-fed, half-sarket,
half-clothed

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               Is a' th' amount.

I started, mutt'ring blockhead! coof!
fool

An' heav'd on high my wauket loof,
horny palm/hand

To swear by a' yon starry roof,

               Or some rash aith,
oath

35
That I, henceforth, would be
rhyme-proof

               Till my last breath —

When click! the
string
the snick did draw;
door latch

And jee! the door gaed to the wa';
went, wall

And by my ingle-lowe I saw,
fire-flame

40
               Now bleezan bright,

A tight, outlandish
Hizzie
, braw,
girl

               Come full in sight.

Ye need na doubt, I held my whisht;
not doubt, said nothing

The infant aith, half-form'd, was crusht;
oath/pledge

45
I glowr'd as eerie's I'd been dusht,
stared, touched

               In some wild glen;

When sweet, like
modest Worth
, she blusht,

               And stepped ben.
inside

Green, slender, leaf-clad
Holly-boughs
leaf-clothed/covered

50
Were twisted, gracefu', round her brows;

I took her for some SCOTTISH MUSE,

               By that same token;

And come to stop those reckless vows,

               Would soon been broken.

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A ‘hair-brain'd, sentimental trace'

Was strongly marked in her face;

A wildly-witty, rustic grace

               Shone full upon her;

Her eye, ev'n turn'd on empty space,

60
            Beam'd keen with
Honor
.

Down flow'd her robe, a
tartan
sheen,
bright

Till half a leg was scrimply seen;
barely

And such a
leg
! my bonie JEAN

               Could only peer it;
equal

65
Sae straught, sae taper, tight an' clean
so, straight, so

               Nane else came near it.
no-one

Her
Mantle
large, of greenish hue,

My gazing wonder chiefly drew;

Deep
lights
and
shades
, bold-mingling, threw

70
                A lustre grand;

And seem'd, to my astonish'd view,

               A
well-known
Land.

Here, rivers in the sea were lost;

There, mountains to the skies were tosst;

75
Here, tumbling billows mark'd the coast,

               With surging foam;

There, distant shone
Art's
lofty boast,

               The lordly dome.

Here, DOON pour'd down his far-fetch'd floods;

80
There, well-fed IRWINE stately thuds:
beats/churns

Auld hermit AIRE staw thro' his woods,
Ayr, stole/steals

               On to the shore;

And many a lesser torrent scuds
races along

               With seeming roar.

85
Low, in a sandy valley spread,

An ancient BOROUGH rear'd her head;

Still, as in
Scottish Story
read,

               She boasts a
Race

To ev'ry nobler virtue bred,

90
               And polish'd grace.

[By stately tow'r, or palace fair,

Or ruins pendent in the air,

Bold stems of Heroes, here and there,

               I could discern;

95
Some seem'd to muse, some seem'd to dare,

               With feature stern.

My heart did glowing transport feel,

To see a Race
2
heroic wheel,

And brandish round the deep-dy'd steel

100
               In sturdy blows;

While, back-recoiling, seem'd to reel

               Their Suthron foes.
English

His COUNTRY'S SAVIOUR,
3
mark him well!

Bold RICHARDTON'S
4
heroic swell;

105
The Chief on Sark
5
who glorious fell

               In high command;

And
He
whom ruthless Fates expel

                His native land.

There, where a sceptr'd
Pictish
6
shade

110
Stalk'd round his ashes lowly laid,

I mark'd a martial Race, pourtray'd

                In colours strong:

Bold, soldier-featur'd, undismay'd,

                They strode along.

115
Thro' many a wild, romantic grove,
7

Near many a hermit-fancy'd cove

(Fit haunts for Friendship or for Love

                In musing mood),

An aged Judge
, I saw him rove,

120
                Dispensing good.

With deep-struck, reverential awe,
8

The learned
Sire
and
Son
I saw:

To Nature's God, and Nature's law,

                They gave their lore;

125
This, all its source and end to draw,

                That, to adore. 

BRYDON'S brave Ward I well could spy,
9

Beneath old SCOTIA'S smiling eye;

Who call'd on Fame, low standing by,

130
                To hand him on,

Where many a Patriot-name on high,

                And Hero shone].

With musing-deep, astonish'd stare,

I view'd the heavenly-seeming
Fair
;

A whisp'ring
throb
did witness bear

                Of kindred sweet,

5
When with an elder Sister's air

                She did me greet.

‘All hail!
my own
inspired Bard!

In me thy native Muse regard!

Nor longer mourn thy fate is hard,

10
                Thus poorly low!

I come to give thee such reward,

                As we bestow.'

‘Know, the great
Genius
of this land

Has many a light, aerial band,

15
Who, all beneath his high command,

                Harmoniously,

As
Arts
or
Arms
they understand,

                Their labors ply.

‘They SCOTIA'S Race among them share:

20
Some fire the
Sodger
on to dare;

Some rouse the
Patriot
up to bare

                Corruption's heart;

Some teach the
Bard
, a darling care,

                The tuneful Art.

25
'Mong swelling floods of reeking gore,
smoking

They, ardent, kindling spirits pour;

Or,' mid the venal Senate's roar,

                They, sightless, stand,

To mend the honest
Patriot-lore
,

30
                And grace the hand.

‘And when the Bard, or hoary Sage,

Charm or instruct the future age,

They bind the wild Poetic rage

                In energy;

35
Or point the inconclusive page

                Full on the eye.

‘Hence, FULLARTON, the brave and young;
10

Hence, DEMPSTER'S zeal-inspirèd tongue;
11

Hence, sweet, harmonious BEATTIE sung
12

40
                His “Minstrel lays”;

Or tore, with noble ardour stung,

                The
Sceptic's
bays'.

‘To lower Orders are assign'd

The humbler ranks of Human-kind,

45
The rustic Bard, the lab'ring Hind,

                The Artisan;

All chuse, as various they're inclin'd,

                The various man.

‘When yellow waves the heavy grain,

50
The threat'ning
Storm
some strongly rein,

Some teach to meliorate the plain,

                With
tillage-skill
;

And some instruct the Shepherd-train,

                Blythe o'er the hill.

55
‘Some hint the Lover's harmless wile;

Some grace the Maiden's artless smile;

Some soothe the Lab'rer's weary toil

                For humble gains,

And make his
cottage-scenes
beguile

60
                His cares and pains.

‘Some, bounded to a district-space,

Explore at large Man's
infant race
,

To mark the embryotic trace

                Of
rustic Bard
;

65
And careful note each op'ning grace,

                A guide and guard.

‘
Of these am I
— COILA my name;

And this distrìct as mine I claim,

Where once the
Campbells
, chiefs of fame,

70
                Held ruling pow'r:

I mark'd thy embryo-tuneful flame,

                Thy natal hour.

‘With future hope I oft would gaze,

Fond, on thy little early ways;

75
Thy rudely caroll'd, chiming phrase,

                In uncouth rhymes;

Fir'd at the simple, artless lays

                Of other times.

‘I saw thee seek the sounding shore,

80
Delighted with the dashing roar;

Or when the
North
his fleecy store

                Drove thro' the sky,

I saw grim Nature's visage hoar,

                Struck thy young eye.

85
‘Or when the deep green-mantled Earth

Warm-cherish'd ev'ry floweret's birth,

And joy and music pouring forth

                In ev'ry grove;

I saw thee eye the gen'ral mirth

90
                With boundless love.

‘When ripen'd fields and azure skies

Call'd forth the
Reaper's
rustling noise,

I saw thee leave their ev'ning joys,

                And lonely stalk,

95
To vent thy bosom's swelling rise,

                In pensive walk.

‘When
youthful Love
, warm-blushing, strong,

Keen-shivering, shot thy nerves along,

Those accents grateful to thy tongue,

100
                Th' adored
Name
,

I taught thee how to pour in song

                To soothe thy flame.

‘I saw thy pulse's
maddening play
,

Wild-send thee Pleasure's devious way,

105
Misled by Fancy's
meteor-ray
,

                By Passion driven;

But yet the
light
that led astray

                Was
light
from Heaven.

‘I taught thy manners-painting strains

110
The
loves
, the
ways
of simple swains,

Till now, o'er all my wide domains

                Thy fame extends;

And some, the pride of
Coila's
plains,

                Become thy friends.

115
‘Thou canst not learn, nor can I show,

To paint with
Thomson's
landscape glow;

Or wake the bosom-melting throe

                With
Shenstone's
art;

Or pour, with
Gray
, the moving flow

120
                Warm on the heart.

‘Yet, all beneath th'unrivall'd Rose,

The lowly Daisy sweetly blows;

Tho' large the forest's Monarch throws

                His army shade,

125
Yet green the juicy Hawthorn grows

                Adown the glade.

‘Then never murmur nor repine;

Strive in thy
humble sphere
to shine;

And trust me, not
Potosi's
13
mine
,

130
                Nor
King's regard
,

Can give a bliss o'ermatching thine,

                A
rustic Bard
.

‘To give my counsels all in one:

Thy
tuneful flame
still careful fan;

135
Preserve
the dignity of Man
,

              With Soul erect;

And trust the UNIVERSAL PLAN

              Will all protect.

‘
And wear thou this
' — She solemn said,

140
And bound the
Holly
round my head:

The polish'd leaves and berries red

              Did rustling play;

And, like a passing thought, she fled

              In light away.