45

Still, thou art blest compared wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But och! I backward cast my e'e,

On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,

I guess an' fear!

1786.

TO A MOUNTAIN DAISY
ON TURNING ONE 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,

Thou bonie gem.

5

Alas! it's no thy neebor sweet,
The bonie lark, companion meet,
Bending thee 'mang the dewy weet,

Wi' spreckled breast,
When upward-springing, blythe, to greet

The purpling east.

1Ο

15

Cauld blew the bitter-biting north
Upon thy early, humble birth;
Yet cheerfully thou glinted forth

Amid the storm,
Scarce reared above the parent-earth

Thy tender form.

20

The flaunting flow'rs our gardens yield,
High shelt'ring woods and wa's maun shield;
But thou, beneath the random bield

O'clod or stane,
Adorns the histie stibble-field,

Unseen, alane.

25

There, in thy scanty mantle clad,
Thy snawie bosom sunward spread,

45

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, wrenched of ev'ry stay but Heav'n,

He, ruined, sink!
Ev'n thou who mourn'st the daisy's fate,
That fate is thine-no distant date;
Stern Ruin's plough-share drives, elate,

Full on thy bloom,
Till crushed beneath the furrow's weight

Shall be thy doom! 1786.

1786.

50

TO A LOUSE
ON SEEING ONE ON A LADY'S BONNET AT CHURCH

Ha! whare ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie?
Your impudence protects you sairly;
I canna say but ye strunt rarely

Ower gauze and lace,
Tho', faith, I fear ye dine but sparely

On sic a place.

5

Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,
Detested, shunned by saunt an' sinner,
How daur ye set your fit upon her,

Sae fine a lady!
Gae somewhere else, and seek your dinner

On some poor body.

Swith! in some beggar's hauffet squattle;
There ye may creep and sprawl and sprattle
Wi' ither kindred jumping cattle,

In shoals and nations,
Whare horn nor bane ne'er daur unsettle

Your thick plantations.

20

Now haud you there! ye're out o' sight,
Below the fatt'rils, snug an' tight;
Na, faith ye yet ! ye 'll no be right

Till ye 've got on it,
The vera tapmost, tow'ring height

O' Miss's bonnet.

25

My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out,
As plump an' grey as onie grozet;
O for some rank, mercurial rozet

Or fell red smeddum!
I'd gie ye sic a hearty dose o't

Wad dress your droddum!

30

I wad na been surprised to spy
You on an auld wife's flainen toy,
Or aiblins some bit duddie boy,

On's wyliecoat;
But Miss's fine Lunardi—fie!

How daur ye do't!

35

O Jenny, dinna toss your head,
An' set your beauties a' abread!
Ye little ken what cursèd speed

The blastie's makin!
Thae winks an' finger-ends, I dread,

Are notice takin!

40 45

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us !
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,

An' foolish notion;
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,

An' ev'n devotion!

20

A set o' dull, conceited hashes
Confuse their brains in college classes ;
They gang in stirks, and come out asses,

Plain truth to speak;
An' syne they think to climb Parnassus

By dint o’ Greek!

25

Gie me ae spark o' Nature's fire,
That's a' the learning I desire;

Then, tho' I drudge thro' dub an' mire

At pleugh or cart,
My Muse, though hamely in attire,

May touch the heart. 1785.

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1786.

ADDRESS TO EDINBURGH

Edina, Scotia's darling seat!

All hail thy palaces and tow'rs,
Where once, beneath a monarch's feet,

Sat Legislation's sov'reign pow'rs.
From marking wildly scatt'red flow'rs,

As on the banks of Ayr I strayed,
And singing, lone, the ling'ring hours,

I shelter in thy honoured shade.

5

10

Here Wealth still swells the golden tide,

As busy Trade his labours plies;
There Architecture's noble pride

Bids elegance and splendour rise;
Here Justice, from her native skies,

High wields her balance and her rod;
There Learning, with his eagle eyes,

Seeks Science in her coy abode.

15

Thy sons, Edina, social, kind,

With open arms the stranger hail;
Their views enlarged, their lib'ral mind,
Above the narrow,

rural vale;
Attentive still to Sorrow's wail,

Or modest Merit's silent claim:
And never may their sources fail!

And never Envy blot their name!

20

25

Thy daughters bright thy walks adorn,

Gay as the gilded summer sky,
Sweet as the dewy milk-white thorn,

Dear as the raptured thrill of joy!
Fair Burnet strikes th' adoring eye,

Heav'n's beauties on my fancy shine;
I see the Sire of Love on high,

And own His work indeed divine !

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