Poems And Songs Of Robert Burns Part 64

There was once a day, but old Time wasythen young, That brave Caledonia, the chief of her line, From some of your northern deities sprung, (Who knows not that brave Caledonia's divine?) From Tweed to the Orcades was her domain, To hunt, or to pasture, or do what she would: Her heav'nly relations there fixed her reign, And pledg'd her their G.o.dheads to warrant it good.

A lambkin in peace, but a lion in war, The pride of her kindred, the heroine grew: Her grandsire, old Odin, triumphantly swore,-- "Whoe'er shall provoke thee, th' encounter shall rue!"

With tillage or pasture at times she would sport, To feed her fair flocks by her green rustling corn; But chiefly the woods were her fav'rite resort, Her darling amus.e.m.e.nt, the hounds and the horn.

Long quiet she reigned; till thitherward steers A flight of bold eagles from Adria's strand: Repeated, successive, for many long years, They darken'd the air, and they plunder'd the land: Their pounces were murder, and terror their cry, They'd conquer'd and ruin'd a world beside; She took to her hills, and her arrows let fly, The daring invaders they fled or they died.

The Cameleon-Savage disturb'd her repose, With tumult, disquiet, rebellion, and strife; Provok'd beyond bearing, at last she arose, And robb'd him at once of his hopes and his life: The Anglian lion, the terror of France, Oft prowling, ensanguin'd the Tweed's silver flood; But, taught by the bright Caledonian lance, He learned to fear in his own native wood.

The fell Harpy-raven took wing from the north, The scourge of the seas, and the dread of the sh.o.r.e; The wild Scandinavian boar issued forth To wanton in carnage and wallow in gore: O'er countries and kingdoms their fury prevail'd, No arts could appease them, no arms could repel; But brave Caledonia in vain they a.s.sail'd, As Largs well can witness, and Loncartie tell.

Thus bold, independent, unconquer'd, and free, Her bright course of glory for ever shall run: For brave Caledonia immortal must be; I'll prove it from Euclid as clear as the sun: Rectangle--triangle, the figure we'll chuse: The upright is Chance, and old Time is the base; But brave Caledonia's the hypothenuse; Then, ergo, she'll match them, and match them always.

To Miss Cruickshank

A very Young Lady

Written on the Blank Leaf of a Book, presented to her by the Author.

Beauteous Rosebud, young and gay, Blooming in thy early May, Never may'st thou, lovely flower, Chilly shrink in sleety shower!

Never Boreas' h.o.a.ry path, Never Eurus' pois'nous breath, Never baleful stellar lights, Taint thee with untimely blights!

Never, never reptile thief Riot on thy virgin leaf!

Nor even Sol too fiercely view Thy bosom blus.h.i.+ng still with dew!

May'st thou long, sweet crimson gem, Richly deck thy native stem; Till some ev'ning, sober, calm, Dropping dews, and breathing balm, While all around the woodland rings, And ev'ry bird thy requiem sings; Thou, amid the dirgeful sound, Shed thy dying honours round, And resign to parent Earth The loveliest form she e'er gave birth.

Beware O' Bonie Ann

Ye gallants bright, I rede you right, Beware o' bonie Ann; Her comely face sae fu' o' grace, Your heart she will trepan: Her een sae bright, like stars by night, Her skin sae like the swan; Sae jimply lac'd her genty waist, That sweetly ye might span.

Youth, Grace, and Love attendant move, And pleasure leads the van: In a' their charms, and conquering arms, They wait on bonie Ann.

The captive bands may chain the hands, But love enslaves the man: Ye gallants braw, I rede you a', Beware o' bonie Ann!

Ode On The Departed Regency Bill

(March, 1789)

Daughter of Chaos' doting years, Nurse of ten thousand hopes and fears, Whether thy airy, insubstantial shade (The rights of sepulture now duly paid) Spread abroad its hideous form On the roaring civil storm, Deafening din and warring rage Factions wild with factions wage; Or under-ground, deep-sunk, profound, Among the demons of the earth, With groans that make the mountains shake, Thou mourn thy ill-starr'd, blighted birth; Or in the uncreated Void, Where seeds of future being fight, With lessen'd step thou wander wide, To greet thy Mother--Ancient Night.

And as each jarring, monster-ma.s.s is past, Fond recollect what once thou wast: In manner due, beneath this sacred oak, Hear, Spirit, hear! thy presence I invoke!

By a Monarch's heaven-struck fate, By a disunited State, By a generous Prince's wrongs.

By a Senate's strife of tongues, By a Premier's sullen pride, Louring on the changing tide; By dread Thurlow's powers to awe Rhetoric, blasphemy and law; By the turbulent ocean-- A Nation's commotion, By the harlot-caresses Of borough addresses, By days few and evil, (Thy portion, poor devil!) By Power, Wealth, and Show, (The G.o.ds by men adored,) By nameless Poverty, (Their h.e.l.l abhorred,) By all they hope, by all they fear, Hear! and appear!

Stare not on me, thou ghastly Power!

Nor, grim with chained defiance, lour: No Babel-structure would I build Where, order exil'd from his native sway, Confusion may the regent-sceptre wield, While all would rule and none obey: Go, to the world of man relate The story of thy sad, eventful fate; And call presumptuous Hope to hear And bid him check his blind career; And tell the sore-prest sons of Care, Never, never to despair!

Paint Charles' speed on wings of fire, The object of his fond desire, Beyond his boldest hopes, at hand: Paint all the triumph of the Portland Band; Hark how they lift the joy-elated voice!

And who are these that equally rejoice?

Jews, Gentiles, what a motley crew!

The iron tears their flinty cheeks bedew; See how unfurled the parchment ensigns fly, And Princ.i.p.al and Interest all the cry!

And how their num'rous creditors rejoice; But just as hopes to warm enjoyment rise, Cry Convalescence! and the vision flies.

Then next pourtray a dark'ning twilight gloom, Eclipsing sad a gay, rejoicing morn, While proud Ambition to th' untimely tomb By gnas.h.i.+ng, grim, despairing fiends is borne: Paint ruin, in the shape of high D[undas]

Gaping with giddy terror o'er the brow; In vain he struggles, the fates behind him press, And clam'rous h.e.l.l yawns for her prey below: How fallen That, whose pride late scaled the skies!

And This, like Lucifer, no more to rise!

Again p.r.o.nounce the powerful word; See Day, triumphant from the night, restored.

Then know this truth, ye Sons of Men!

(Thus ends thy moral tale,) Your darkest terrors may be vain, Your brightest hopes may fail.

Epistle To James Tennant Of Glenconner

Auld comrade dear, and brither sinner, How's a' the folk about Glenconner?

How do you this blae eastlin wind, That's like to blaw a body blind?

For me, my faculties are frozen, My dearest member nearly dozen'd.

I've sent you here, by Johnie Simson, Twa sage philosophers to glimpse on; Smith, wi' his sympathetic feeling, An' Reid, to common sense appealing.

Philosophers have fought and wrangled, An' meikle Greek an' Latin mangled, Till wi' their logic-jargon tir'd, And in the depth of science mir'd, To common sense they now appeal, What wives and wabsters see and feel.

But, hark ye, friend! I charge you strictly, Peruse them, an' return them quickly: For now I'm grown sae cursed douce I pray and ponder b.u.t.t the house; My s.h.i.+ns, my lane, I there sit roastin', Perusing Bunyan, Brown, an' Boston, Till by an' by, if I haud on, I'll grunt a real gospel-groan: Already I begin to try it, To cast my e'en up like a pyet, When by the gun she tumbles o'er Flutt'ring an' gasping in her gore: Sae shortly you shall see me bright, A burning an' a s.h.i.+ning light.

My heart-warm love to guid auld Glen, The ace an' wale of honest men: When bending down wi' auld grey hairs Beneath the load of years and cares, May He who made him still support him, An' views beyond the grave comfort him; His worthy fam'ly far and near, G.o.d bless them a' wi' grace and gear!

My auld schoolfellow, Preacher Willie, The manly tar, my mason-billie, And Auchenbay, I wish him joy, If he's a parent, la.s.s or boy, May he be dad, and Meg the mither, Just five-and-forty years thegither!

And no forgetting wabster Charlie, I'm tauld he offers very fairly.

An' Lord, remember singing Sannock, Wi' hale breeks, saxpence, an' a bannock!

And next, my auld acquaintance, Nancy, Since she is fitted to her fancy, An' her kind stars hae airted till her gA guid chiel wi' a pickle siller.

My kindest, best respects, I sen' it, To cousin Kate, an' sister Janet: Tell them, frae me, wi' chiels be cautious, For, faith, they'll aiblins fin' them fas.h.i.+ous; To grant a heart is fairly civil, But to grant a maidenhead's the devil.

An' lastly, Jamie, for yoursel, May guardian angels tak a spell, An' steer you seven miles south o' h.e.l.l: But first, before you see heaven's glory, May ye get mony a merry story, Mony a laugh, and mony a drink, And aye eneugh o' needfu' clink.

Now fare ye weel, an' joy be wi' you: For my sake, this I beg it o' you, a.s.sist poor Simson a' ye can, Ye'll fin; him just an honest man; Sae I conclude, and quat my chanter, Your's, saint or sinner, Rob the Ranter.

A New Psalm For The Chapel Of Kilmarnock

On the Thanksgiving-Day for His Majesty's Recovery.

O sing a new song to the Lord, Make, all and every one, A joyful noise, even for the King His restoration.

The sons of Belial in the land Did set their heads together; Come, let us sweep them off, said they, Like an o'erflowing river.