wi' braw new branks in mickle pride,
and eke a braw new brechan,
my pegasus i'm got astride,
and up parnassus pechin;
whiles owre a bush wi' donwward crush,
the doited beastie stammers;
then up he gets, and off he sets,
for sake o' willie chalmers.
i doubt na, lass, that weel ken'd name
may cost a pair o' blushes;
i am nae stranger to your fame,
nor his warm urged wishes.
your bonie face sae mild and sweet,
his honest heart enamours,
and faith ye'll no be lost a whit,
tho' wair'd on willie chalmers.
auld truth hersel' might swear yer'e fair,
and honour safely back her;
and modesty assume your air,
and ne'er a ane mistak her:
and sic twa love-inspiring een
might fire even holy palmers;
nae wonder then they've fatal been
to honest willie chalmers.
i doubt na fortune may you shore
some mim-mou'd pouther'd priestie,
fu' lifted up wi' hebrew lore,
and band upon his breastie:
but oh! what signifies to you
his lexicons and grammars;
the feeling heart's the royal blue,
and that's wi' willie chalmers.
some gapin', glowrin' countra laird
may warsle for your favour;
may claw his lug, and straik his beard,
and hoast up some palaver:
my bonie maid, before ye wed
sic clumsy-witted hammers,
seek heaven for help, and barefit skelp
awa wi' willie chalmers.
forgive the bard! my fond regard
for ane that shares my bosom,
inspires my muse to gie 'm his dues
for deil a hair i roose him.
may powers aboon unite you soon,
and fructify your amours,—
and every yeare in mair dear
to you and willie chalmers.
Poems and Songs of Robert Burns reply to a trimming epistle received from a tailor reply to a trimming epistle received from a tailor
what ails ye now, ye lousie bitch
to thresh my back at sic a pitch?
losh, man! hae mercy wi' your natch,
your bodkin's bauld;
i didna suffer half sae much
frae daddie auld.
what tho' at times, when i grow crouse,
i gie their wames a random pouse,
is that enough for you to souse
your servant sae?
gae mind your seam, ye prick-the-louse,
an' jag-the-flea!
king david, o' poetic brief,
wrocht 'mang the lasses sic mischief
as filled his after-life wi' grief,
an' bluidy rants,
an' yet he's rank'd amang the chief
o' lang-syne saunts.
and maybe, tam, for a' my cants,
my wicked rhymes, an' drucken rants,
i'll gie auld cloven's clootie's haunts
an unco slip yet,
an' snugly sit amang the saunts,
at davie's hip yet!
but, fegs! the session says i maun
gae fa' upo' anither plan
than garrin lasses coup the cran,
clean heels ower body,
an' sairly thole their mother's ban
afore the howdy.
this leads me on to tell for sport,
how i did wi' the session sort;
auld clinkum, at the inner port,
cried three times, “robin!
e hither lad, and answer for't,
ye're blam'd for jobbin!”
wi' pinch i put a sunday's face on,
an' snoov'd awa before the session:
i made an open, fair confession—
i scorn't to lee,
an' syne mess john, beyond expression,
fell foul o' me.
a fornicator-loun he call'd me,
an' said my faut frae bliss expell'd me;
i own'd the tale was true he tell'd me,
“but, what the matter?
(quo' i) i fear unless ye geld me,
i'll ne'er be better!”
“geld you! (quo' he) an' what for no?
if that your right hand, leg or toe
should ever prove your sp'ritual foe,
you should remember
to cut it aff—an' what for no
your dearest member?”
“na, na, (quo' i,) i'm no for that,
gelding's nae better than 'tis ca't;
i'd rather suffer for my faut
a hearty flewit,
as sair owre hip as ye can draw't,
tho' i should rue it.
“or, gin ye like to end the bother,
to please us a'—i've just ae ither—
when next wi' yon lass i forgather,
whate'er betide it,
i'll frankly gie her 't a' thegither,
an' let her guide it.”
but, sir, this pleas'd them warst of a',
an' therefore, tam, when that i saw,
i said “gude night,” an' cam' awa',
an' left the session;
i saw they were resolved a'
on my oppression.
Poems and Songs of Robert Burns the brigs of ayr the brigs of ayr
a poem
inscribed to john ballantine, esq., ayr.
the simple bard, rough at the rustic plough,
learning his tuneful trade from ev'ry bough;
the chanting linnet, or the mellow thrush,
hailing the setting sun, sweet, in the green thorn bush;
the soaring lark, the perching red-breast shrill,
or deep-ton'd plovers grey, wild-whistling o'er the hill;
shall he—nurst in the peasant's lowly shed,
to hardy independence bravely bred,
by early poverty to hardship steel'd.
and train'd to arms in stern misfortune's field—
shall he be guilty of their hireling crimes,
the servile, mercenary swiss of rhymes?
or labour hard the panegyric close,
with all the venal soul of dedicating prose?
no! though his artless strains he rudely sings,
and throws his hand uncouthly o'er the strings,
he glows with all the spirit of the bard,
fame, honest fame, his great, his dear reward.
still, if some patron's gen'rous care he trace,
skill'd in the secret, to bestow with grace;
when ballantine befriends his humble name,
and hands the rustic stranger up to fame,
with heartfelt throes his grateful bosom swells,
the godlike bliss, to give, alone excels.
'twas when the stacks get on their winter hap,
and thack and rape secure the toil-won crap;
potatoe-bings are snugged up frae skaith
o'ing winter's biting, frosty breath;
the bees, rejoicing o'er their summer toils,
unnumber'd buds an' flow'rs' delicious spoils,
seal'd up with frugal care in massive waxen piles,
are doom'd by man, that tyrant o'er the weak,
the death o' devils, smoor'd wi' brimstone reek:
the thundering guns are heard on ev'ry side,
the wounded coveys, reeling, scatter wide;
the feather'd field-mates, bound by nature's tie,
sires, mothers, children, in one carnage lie:
(what warm, poetic heart but inly bleeds,
and execrates man's savage, ruthless deeds!)
nae mair the flow'r in field or meadow springs,
nae mair the grove with airy concert rings,
except perhaps the robin's whistling glee,
proud o' the height o' some bit half-lang tree:
the hoary morns precede the sunny days,
mild, calm, serene, wide spreads the noontide blaze,
while thick the gosamour waves wanton in the rays.
'twas in that season, when a simple bard,
unknown and poor—simplicity's reward!—
ae night, within the ancient brugh of ayr,
by whim inspir'd, or haply prest wi' care,
he left his bed, and took his wayward route,
and down by simpson's wheel'd the left about:
(whether impell'd by all-directing fate,
to witness what i after shall narrate;
or whether, rapt in meditation high,
he wander'd out, he knew not where or why:)
the drowsy dungeon-clock had number'd two,
and wallace tower had sworn the fact was true:
the tide-swoln firth, with sullen-sounding roar,
through the still night dash'd hoarse along the shore.
all else was hush'd as nature's closed e'e;