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Behint me clinks the gowden yett;
An' faith! the psalms I sune forget
As doon the road I skelp sherp-set,

Past star an' planet,
Wi' thochts o' hame that bizz red-het

Aneath my bannet !

An' when I stap oot ower the cluds,-
There's Scotland yet! The birlin' fluds;
The broomy braes; the whusslin' wuds;

Gowans the same!
God ! but my heart starts aff in thuds,

To ken I'm hame!

Saftly I daunder up an' doon
By Ayr an' Nith, by Embro' toon,
A licht-fit, liltin', hame-daft loon !

Ilk stream, ilk tree,
The mavis' sang, the cushie's croon,

Brings joy to me!

Yet Scotland's changed since first I kent it;
The Gospel-faulds hae been augmentit;
The hypocrites hae a' repentit,

An' quat their quirks;
The auld black creeds hae been white-pentit

In a' the kirks!

Nae mair frae pupits yerks a yell
O'God's damnation fierce an' fell;
A saft an' couthie tale they tell,

An' tell it quick;
They've sell't the guid auld brunstane Hell,

An' pensioned Nick !

A land o'saunts it would appear !
Stories o' death their daily cheer;
Whare ilk ane sits beside the Brier

Plantit by Ian;
Whare a' men drap the mild saut tear

Beloved in Zion.

Deil roast sic craws an' a' their cawin'!
Their blame is stale, their praise is stawin';
When Robin drank he paid his lawin',

Sure that's weel kenned ;
When Robin fell he mourned his faain',-

So there's an end !

Faith! if the truth maun be confest,
Auld Scotland's guid, but Heaven is best;
A body's frien's there stand the test

Withouten sham;
Guid fellows a' at crack the jest,

An' pass the dram.

Shakespeare, the king o' a' the core;
Byron, a deil to start a splore;
Shelley, whase gowden lilts galore

Keeps a' herps waitin';
Coleridge, whiles seraph,—whiles a bore,

Like Milton's Latin !

But Scott's the wale o men for me,
Wi' pawkie Allan at his knee,
An' gleg James Hogg, wha thraws a wee

At burly Kit;
An' Louis,—blythe of late cam' be, -

A' shanks an' wit.

Wi' siclike frien's Scotch saunts come sair;
Sae back to Scotland I'll nae mair;
For after Heaven I canna bear

Sic godly folk;
Then fareweel! daylicht's in the air,

An' there's the cock !

HAMISI HENDRY.