TO A MOUSE, ON TURNING HER UP IN HER NEST, WITH THE PLOUGE, NOVEMBER, 1785. WEE, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie! O, what a panic's in thy breastie! Wi' bickerin brattle! I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee, I truly sorrow man's dominion Which makes thee startle At me, thy poor earth-born companion, I doubt na, whyles but thou may thieve! 'S a sma' request: I'll get a blessin wi' the lave, Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin! An' bleak December win's ensuin, Baith snell and keen' Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste, An' weary winter comin' fast, An' cozie here, beneath the blast, Thou thought to dwell, Till, crash! the cruel coulter past Out thro' thy cell. That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble To thole the winter's sleety dribble, But, mousie, thou art no thy lane, An' lea'e us nought but grief and pain Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me! An' forward, tho' I canna see, I guess an' fear! TO A MOUNTAIN DAISY, ON TURNING ONE DOWN WITH THE PLOUGH, IN WEE, modest, crimson-tipped flow'r, To spare thee now is past my pow'r, Alas! it's no thy neebor sweet, When upward-springing, blithe, to greet Cauld blew the bitter-biting North Amid the storm, Scarce rear'd above the parent-earth The flaunting flow'rs our gardens yield, But thou, beneath the random bield There, in thy scanty mantle clad, But now the snare uptears thy bed, Such is the fate of artless maid, And guileless trust; Till she, like thee, all soil'd, is laid Such is the fate of simple bard, Of prudent lore, Till billows rage, and gales blow hard, Such fate to suff'ring worth is giv'n, To mis'ry's brink ; Till, wrench'd of ev'ry stay but Heav'n, Ev'n thou who mourn'd the daisy's fate, Till, crush'd beneath the furrow's weigh THE HUMBLE PETITION OF BRUAR WATER,* TO THE NOBLE DUKE OF ATHOLE. My lord, I know your noble ear The lightly-jumping, glowrin trouts, i ast day I grat wi' spite and teen, "hat, to a bard, I should be seen Wi' half my channel dry; Ev'n as I was, he shor'd me; Bra Falls, in Athole, are exceedingly picturesque and beauuful › at their efect is much impaired by the want of trees and shrubs. |