Some rhyme, a neebor's name to lash; Some rhyme (vain thought!) for needfu' cash; For me, an aim I never fash !d I rhyme for fun. The star that rules my luckless lot, An' damn'd my fortune to the groat ; Has bless'd me wi' a random shot This while my notion's taen a sklent,' But still the mair I'm that I red h you, way bent, Something cries—' Hoolie '8 honest man, tak tent!! Ye'll shaw your folly. 'There's ither poets, much your betters, Now moths deform in shapeless tetters Then fareweel hopes o' laurel-boughs, To garland my poetic brows! Henceforth I'll rove where busy ploughs Are whistling thrang, And teach the lanely heights an' howesk I'll wander on wi' tentless' heed Country talk. Aslant. Take need. d To care for. e Doomed me to poverty. g Take time and consider. ▲ Counsel. k Hollows, or dales. ¿ Thoughtless, Till fate shall snap the brittle thread; I'll lay me with th' inglorious dead, But why o' death begin a tale? Just now we're living, sound, and hale, And large, before enjoyment's gale, This life, sae far 's I understand, Where pleasure is the magic wand, That, wielded right, Maks hours like minutes, hand in hand, The magic wand then let us wield; Wi' wrinkled face, Come hostin', hirplin', owre the field, When ance life's day draws near the gloamin'. An' fareweel, dear, deluding woman, O Life! how pleasant in thy morning, Like school-boys at th' expected warning, m Once, Coughing. To climb. • Old age. Twilight We wander there, we wander here. Amang the leaves; And tho' the puny wound appear, Short while it grieves. Some, lucky, find a flow'ry spot, And, haply, eye the barren hut With high disdain. With steady aim some fortune chase; Then cannie," in some coziew place, And others, like your humble servan', They zig-zag on; Till curst with age, obscure an' starvin', They aften groan. Alas! what bitter toil an' straining- E'en let her gang! Beneath what light she has remaining Let's sing our sang. My pen I here fling to the door, And kneel, Ye Powers!' and warm implore, 'Tho' I should wander terra o'er, In all her climes, u Dexterously. w Snug Grant me but this, I ask no more, 'Gie dreeping roasts to countra lairds, And yill2 an' whisky gie to cairds, 'A title, Dempster merits it; A garter gie to Willie Pitt; Gie wealth to some be-ledger'd cit, In cent. per cent.; But gie me real, sterling wit, And I'm content. 'While ye are pleas'd to keep me hale, As lang 's the Muses dinna fail An anxious e'e I never throws Sworn foe to sorrow, care, and prose, O ye douces folk that live by rule, Your hearts are just a standing pool, Plenty. b Loathe it. e Broth, Your lives, a dyke! y Clothes. z Ale. a Tinkers. c George Dempster, Esq. of Dunnichen. d Made of meal and water only. composed of water, shelled barley, and greens. g Wise. To stoop. Nae hair-brain'd, sentimental traces Ye never stray, But, gravissimo, solemn basses Ye hum away. Ye are sae grave, nae doubt ye 're wise; The hairum-scairum, ram-stami boys, I see you upward cast your eyes Ye ken the road. Whilst I-but I shall haud me there- But quit my sang, Content wi' you to make a pair, Whare'er I gang. TO JOHN LAPRAIK, An old Scottish Bard. April 1, 1785. WHILE briars an' woodbines budding green, An' paitricksk scraichin' loud at e'en, An' morning pousiel whiddin'm seen, Inspire my Muse, This freedom in an unknown frien' On Fasten-e'en" we had a rockin'," To ca' the crackP and weave the stockin'; : Thoughtless.. h With contempt. k Partridges. A hare. m Running as a hare does. n Fastens-even. • This is a term derived from those primitive times, when the country women employed their leisure hours in spinning on the rock or distaff. This instrument being very portable, was well fitted to accompany its owner to a neighbour's house; hence the phrase of going a rocking, or with the rock. The connexion, however, which the phrase had with the implement was forgotten after the rock gave place to the spinning wheel, and men talked of going a-rocking as well as women. It was at one of these rockings, or social parties, that Mr. Lapraik's song was sung. Burns being informed who was the author, wrote his first epistle to Lapraik; and his second in reply to his answer. p To call upon some one in the company for a song or a story |