Ochil Idylls and Other Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

The first was blawn in to my fireside,
A mitherless baby child;
It lay on the flure in its lang claes,
Opened its een an' smiled.
Ithers, mony, cam' efter,
Blawn in wi' snaw or sleet;
They grat, or sleepit, or sweetly
Lay lauchin' at my feet.
At last a little ane, stacherin',
Cam' wi' a flooer in its haund,
Crawin', an' plungin', an' fa'in'—
It could walk, till it tried to staund.

Ithers, mony, cam' efter,
Toddlin' or creepin' in,
Till they took to rinnin', an' lauchin' lood,
An' makin' sic a din,
That I stappit ootby to meet them;
An' lo! the fields were green,
And a lang array o' bairn-folk
Thrangin' up was seen.

Their voice was in the woodlands,
Their lauch upon the lea;
But noo they were sae saucy
They would curchie but, an' flee.

I gazed like ane enchanted,
Till, to my wond'rin' ken,
The girls grew up to womanheid,
The lads shot up to men.
Then cam' a face just dipt in beard,
Wi' blushes cover'd mair;
And then aneth a maiden chin
A bosom buddin' fair.
Then cam' beardit faces,
And matron breasts mature;
Thro' heart and brain, in ilka vein,
Life was pulsing pure.
Their hair upon their shoulders,
Flourishing it lay,
The hazel in its glossy length,
The dark unmix'd with grey.

But now the pace grew sober,
The step was not so free,
Nor quite so square the shoulders,
Nor quite so quick the ee.

It was the measured pace of one
That meditates a vow;
At last a garland falling
Revealed a naked pow—
A naked pow that green-leaves
Had garlanded; and then
I saw the slow procession
Was one of agèd men.

Ithers, mony, cam' efter,
Bent, and beld, and auld,
Hoastin' on their haund-staffs
And crynin' wi' the cauld.
I see them yet, a back view,
Stoppin' to stoop an' blaw,
Thae auld men wi' snaw beards
Half-gate to the snaw.
The hin'mest i' the darkenin'
Sank upon his knee;
Keen as a swerd the winter strak'
Betwix' that carle an' me.