Poems And Songs Of Robert Burns Part 31

Ye need na doubt, I held my whisht; The infant aith, half-form'd, was crusht I glowr'd as eerie's I'd been dusht In some wild glen; When sweet, like honest Worth, she blusht, An' stepped ben.

Green, slender, leaf-clad holly-boughs Were twisted, gracefu', round her brows; I took her for some Scottish Muse, By that same token; And come to stop those reckless vows, Would soon been broken.

A "hair-brain'd, sentimental trace"

Was strongly marked in her face; A wildly-witty, rustic grace Shone full upon her; Her eye, ev'n turn'd on empty s.p.a.ce, Beam'd keen with honour.

Down flow'd her robe, a tartan sheen, Till half a leg was scrimply seen; An' such a leg! my bonie Jean Could only peer it; Sae straught, sae taper, tight an' clean-- Nane else came near it.

Her mantle large, of greenish hue, My gazing wonder chiefly drew: Deep lights and shades, bold-mingling, threw A l.u.s.tre grand; And seem'd, to my astonish'd view, A well-known land.

Here, rivers in the sea were lost; There, mountains to the skies were toss't: Here, tumbling billows mark'd the coast, With surging foam; There, distant shone Art's lofty boast, The lordly dome.

Here, Doon pour'd down his far-fetch'd floods; There, well-fed Irwine stately thuds: Auld hermit Ayr staw thro' his woods, On to the sh.o.r.e; And many a lesser torrent scuds, With seeming roar.

Low, in a sandy valley spread, An ancient borough rear'd her head; Still, as in Scottish story read, She boasts a race To ev'ry n.o.bler virtue bred, And polish'd grace.^2

By stately tow'r, or palace fair, Or ruins pendent in the air, Bold stems of heroes, here and there, I could discern; Some seem'd to muse, some seem'd to dare, With feature stern.

My heart did glowing transport feel, To see a race heroic^3 wheel,

[Footnote 2: The seven stanzas following this were first printed in the Edinburgh edition, 1787. Other stanzas, never published by Burns himself, are given on p. 180.]

[Footnote 3: The Wallaces.--R. B.]

And brandish round the deep-dyed steel, In st.u.r.dy blows; While, back-recoiling, seem'd to reel Their Suthron foes.

His Country's Saviour,^4 mark him well!

Bold Richardton's heroic swell;^5 The chief, on Sark who glorious fell,^6 In high command; And he whom ruthless fates expel His native land.

There, where a sceptr'd Pictish shade Stalk'd round his ashes lowly laid,^7 I mark'd a martial race, pourtray'd In colours strong: Bold, soldier-featur'd, undismay'd, They strode along.

Thro' many a wild, romantic grove,^8 Near many a hermit-fancied cove (Fit haunts for friends.h.i.+p or for love, In musing mood), An aged Judge, I saw him rove, Dispensing good.

With deep-struck, reverential awe, The learned Sire and Son I saw:^9 To Nature's G.o.d, and Nature's law, They gave their lore; This, all its source and end to draw, That, to adore.

[Footnote 4: William Wallace.--R.B.]

[Footnote 5: Adam Wallace of Richardton, cousin to the immortal preserver of Scottish independence.--R.B.]

[Footnote 6: Wallace, laird of Craigie, who was second in command under Douglas, Earl of Ormond, at the famous battle on the banks of Sark, fought anno 1448. That glorious victory was princ.i.p.ally owing to the judicious conduct and intrepid valour of the gallant laird of Craigie, who died of his wounds after the action.--R.B.]

[Footnote 7: Coilus, King of the Picts, from whom the district of Kyle is said to take its name, lies buried, as tradition says, near the family seat of the Montgomeries of Coilsfield, where his burial--place is still shown.--R.B.]

[Footnote 8: Barskimming, the seat of the Lord Justice-- Clerk.--R.B.]

[Footnote 9: Catrine, the seat of the late Doctor and present Professor Stewart.--R.B.]

Brydon's brave ward^10 I well could spy, Beneath old Scotia's smiling eye: Who call'd on Fame, low standing by, To hand him on, Where many a patriot-name on high, And hero shone.

Duan Second

With musing-deep, astonish'd stare, I view'd the heavenly-seeming Fair; A whispering throb did witness bear Of kindred sweet, When with an elder sister's air She did me greet.

"All hail! my own inspired bard!

In me thy native Muse regard; Nor longer mourn thy fate is hard, Thus poorly low; I come to give thee such reward, As we bestow!

"Know, the great genius of this land Has many a light aerial band, Who, all beneath his high command, Harmoniously, As arts or arms they understand, Their labours ply.

"They Scotia's race among them share: Some fire the soldier on to dare; Some rouse the patriot up to bare Corruption's heart: Some teach the bard--a darling care-- The tuneful art.

"'Mong swelling floods of reeking gore, They, ardent, kindling spirits pour;

[Footnote 10: Colonel Fullarton.--R.B. This gentleman had travelled under the care of Patrick Brydone, author of a well-known "Tour Through Sicily and Malta."]

Or, 'mid the venal senate's roar, They, sightless, stand, To mend the honest patriot-lore, And grace the hand.

"And when the bard, or h.o.a.ry sage, Charm or instruct the future age, They bind the wild poetric rage In energy, Or point the inconclusive page Full on the eye.

"Hence, Fullarton, the brave and young; Hence, Dempster's zeal-inspired tongue; Hence, sweet, harmonious Beattie sung His 'Minstrel lays'; Or tore, with n.o.ble ardour stung, The sceptic's bays.

"To lower orders are a.s.sign'd The humbler ranks of human-kind, The rustic bard, the lab'ring hind, The artisan; All choose, as various they're inclin'd, The various man.

"When yellow waves the heavy grain, The threat'ning storm some strongly rein; Some teach to meliorate the plain With tillage-skill; And some instruct the shepherd-train, Blythe o'er the hill.

"Some hint the lover's harmless wile; Some grace the maiden's artless smile; Some soothe the lab'rer's weary toil For humble gains, And make his cottage-scenes beguile His cares and pains.

"Some, bounded to a district-s.p.a.ce Explore at large man's infant race, To mark the embryotic trace Of rustic bard; And careful note each opening grace, A guide and guard.

"Of these am I--Coila my name: And this district as mine I claim, Where once the Campbells, chiefs of fame, Held ruling power: I mark'd thy embryo-tuneful flame, Thy natal hour.

"With future hope I oft would gaze Fond, on thy little early ways, Thy rudely, caroll'd, chiming phrase, In uncouth rhymes; Fir'd at the simple, artless lays Of other times.

"I saw thee seek the sounding sh.o.r.e, Delighted with the das.h.i.+ng roar; Or when the North his fleecy store Drove thro' the sky, I saw grim Nature's visage h.o.a.r Struck thy young eye.

"Or when the deep green-mantled earth Warm cherish'd ev'ry floweret's birth, And joy and music pouring forth In ev'ry grove; I saw thee eye the general mirth With boundless love.

"When ripen'd fields and azure skies Call'd forth the reapers' rustling noise, I saw thee leave their ev'ning joys, And lonely stalk, To vent thy bosom's swelling rise, In pensive walk.

"When youthful love, warm-blus.h.i.+ng, strong, Keen-s.h.i.+vering, shot thy nerves along, Those accents grateful to thy tongue, Th' adored Name, I taught thee how to pour in song, To soothe thy flame.

"I saw thy pulse's maddening play, Wild send thee Pleasure's devious way, Misled by Fancy's meteor-ray, By pa.s.sion driven; But yet the light that led astray Was light from Heaven.

"I taught thy manners-painting strains, The loves, the ways of simple swains, Till now, o'er all my wide domains Thy fame extends; And some, the pride of Coila's plains, Become thy friends.

"Thou canst not learn, nor I can show, To paint with Thomson's landscape glow; Or wake the bosom-melting throe, With Shenstone's art; Or pour, with Gray, the moving flow Warm on the heart.