 | The Poetry of Robert Burns |  |
59
EPISTLE TO JAMES SMITH
Friendship, mysterious cement of the soul!
Sweet'ner of Life, and solder of Society!
I owe thee much ------
BLAIR.
Sweet'ner of Life, and solder of Society!
I owe thee much ------
BLAIR.
I
Dear Smith, the slee'st, pawkie thief,That e'er attempted stealth or rief!
Ye surely hae some warlock-breef
Owre human hearts;
For ne'er a bosom yet was prief
Against your arts.
II
For me, I swear by sun an' moon,And ev'ry star that blinks aboon,
Ye've cost me twenty pair o' shoon,
Just gaun to see you;
And ev'ry ither pair that's done,
Mair taen I'm wi' you.
60
III
That auld, capricious carlin, Nature,To mak amends for scrimpit stature,
She's turn'd you off, a human-creature
On her first plan;
And in her freaks, on ev'ry feature
She's wrote the Man.
IV
Just now I've taen the fit o' rhyme,My barmie noddle's working prime,
My fancy yerkit up sublime,
Wi' hasty summon:
Hae ye a leisure-moment's time
To hear what's comin?
V
Some rhyme a neebor's name to lash;Some rhyme (vain thought!) for needfu' cash;
Some rhyme to court the countra clash,
An' raise a din;
For me, an aim I never fash;
I rhyme for fun.
VI
The star that rules my luckless lot,Has fated me the russet coat,
61
But, in requit,
Has blest me with a random-shot
O' countra wit.
VII
This while my notion's taen a sklent,To try my fate in guid, black prent;
But still the mair I'm that way bent,
Something cries, ‘Hoolie!
I red you, honest man, tak tent!
Ye'll shaw your folly:
VIII
‘There's ither poets, much your betters,Far seen in Greek, deep men o' letters,
Hae thought they had ensur'd their debtors,
A' future ages;
Now moths deform, in shapeless tatters,
Their unknown pages.’
IX
Then farewell hopes o' laurel-boughsTo garland my poetic brows!
Henceforth I'll rove where busy ploughs
Are whistling thrang;
An' teach the lanely heights an' howes
My rustic sang.
62
X
I'll wander on, wi' tentless heedHow never-halting moments speed,
Till Fate shall snap the brittle thread;
Then, all unknown,
I'll lay me with th'inglorious dead,
Forgot and gone!
XI
But why o' death begin a tale?Just now we're living sound an' hale;
Then top and maintop crowd the sail,
Heave Care o'er-side!
And large, before Enjoyment's gale,
Let's tak the tide.
XII
This life, sae far's I understand,Is a' enchanted fairy-land,
Where Pleasure is the magic-wand,
That, wielded right,
Maks hours like minutes, hand in hand,
Dance by fu' light.
XIII
The magic-wand then let us wield;For, ance that five-an'-forty's speel'd,
63
Wi' wrinkl'd face,
Comes hostin, hirplin owre the field,
Wi' creepin pace.
XIV
When ance life's day draws near the gloamin,Then fareweel vacant, careless roamin;
An' fareweel chearfu' tankards foamin,
An' social noise:
An' fareweel dear, deluding Woman,
The joy of joys!
XV
O Life! how pleasant, in thy morning,Young Fancy's rays the hills adorning!
Cold-pausing Caution's lesson scorning,
We frisk away,
Like school-boys, at th'expected warning,
To joy an' play.
XVI
We wander there, we wander here,We eye the rose upon the brier,
Unmindful that the thorn is near,
Among the leaves;
And tho' the puny wound appear,
Short while it grieves.
64
XVII
Some, lucky, find a flow'ry spot,For which they never toil'd nor swat;
They drink the sweet and eat the fat,
But care or pain;
And haply eye the barren hut
With high disdain.
XVIII
With steady aim, some Fortune chase;Keen Hope does ev'ry sinew brace;
Thro' fair, thro' foul, they urge the race,
And seize the prey:
Then cannie, in some cozie place,
They close the day.
XIX
And others, like your humble servan',Poor wights! nae rules nor roads observin,
To right or left eternal swervin,
They zig-zag on;
Till, curst with age, obscure an' starvin,
They aften groan.
XX
Alas! what bitter toil an' straining—But truce with peevish, poor complaining!
65
E'en let her gang!
Beneath what light she has remaining,
Let's sing our sang.
XXI
My pen I here fling to the door,And kneel, ye Pow'rs! and warm implore,
‘Tho' I should wander Terra o'er,
In all her climes,
Grant me but this, I ask no more,
Ay rowth o' rhymes.
XXII
‘Gie dreeping roasts to countra lairds,Till icicles hing frae their beards;
Gie fine braw claes to fine life-guards
And maids of honor;
And yill an' whisky gie to cairds,
Until they sconner.
XXIII
‘A title, Dempster merits it;A garter gie to Willie Pitt;
Gie wealth to some be-ledger'd cit,
In cent. per cent.;
But give me real, sterling wit,
And I'm content
66
XXIV
‘While ye are pleas'd to keep me hale,I'll sit down o'er my scanty meal,
Be't water-brose or muslin-kail,
Wi' cheerfu' face,
As lang's the Muses dinna fail
To say the grace.’
XXV
An anxious e'e I never throwsBehint my lug, or by my nose;
I jouk beneath Misfortune's blows
As weel's I may;
Sworn foe to sorrow, care, and prose,
I rhyme away.
XXVI
O ye douce folk that live by rule,Grave, tideless-blooded, calm an' cool,
Compar'd wi' you—O fool! fool! fool!
How much unlike!
Your hearts are just a standing pool,
Your lives a dyke!
67
XXVII
Nae hair-brained, sentimental tracesIn your unletter'd, nameless faces!
In arioso trills and graces
Ye never stray;
But gravissímo, solemn basses
Ye hum away.
XXVIII
Ye are sae grave, nae doubt ye're wise;Nae ferly tho' ye do despise
The hairum-scairum, ram-stam boys,
The rattling squad:
I see ye upward cast your eyes—
Ye ken the road!
XXIX
Whilst I—but I shall haud me there,Wi' you I'll scarce gang onie where—
Then, Jamie, I shall say nae mair,
But quat my sang,
Content wi' you to mak a pair,
Whare'er I gang.
| The Poetry of Robert Burns | |