Willie Winkie and Other Songs and Poems By William Miller: Edited, with an Introduction by Robert Ford |
 |
 |
|
|
Address to Mr. William Miller.
|
 | Willie Winkie and Other Songs and Poems |  |
77
Address to Mr. William Miller.
By Wm. Air Foster.
Thae bonny sangs ye sing, Willie,
Wi' sic a touching art,
Round a' our feelings seem to cling,
And thrill the very heart.
Wi' sic a touching art,
Round a' our feelings seem to cling,
And thrill the very heart.
A mither's love ye've seen, Willie;
A faither's joy ye've felt;
Or else thae simple strains, I ween,
Our feelings wadna melt.
A faither's joy ye've felt;
Or else thae simple strains, I ween,
Our feelings wadna melt.
The sweet and gladsome lay that's sung,
Wi' sic a fervent power,
Is like the hinny blab that's wrung
Frae out the modest flower.
Wi' sic a fervent power,
Is like the hinny blab that's wrung
Frae out the modest flower.
There's magic in that simple lay—
Sic music in its strain,
That thoughts, receding, bring the day
O' bairn-time back again.
Sic music in its strain,
That thoughts, receding, bring the day
O' bairn-time back again.
78
We feel the freshness o' the spring,
In Willie Winkie's glee:
Or whan we hear a mither sing
Your “Gree, bairnies, gree.”
In Willie Winkie's glee:
Or whan we hear a mither sing
Your “Gree, bairnies, gree.”
The bees that 'mang the blossoms flit
Wi' laden limbs, may rove;
The mellow fruit is only fit
To tempt the hornet's love.
Wi' laden limbs, may rove;
The mellow fruit is only fit
To tempt the hornet's love.
Then paint me nature's burstin' bud—
Man in his artless time,
Ere vice's taint has flush'd his blood,
Or stained his form wi' crime.
Man in his artless time,
Ere vice's taint has flush'd his blood,
Or stained his form wi' crime.
And raise frae virtue's simple style,
A halo round thy name
That ithers tyne, wha fight and toil
To gain a brighter fame.
A halo round thy name
That ithers tyne, wha fight and toil
To gain a brighter fame.
| Willie Winkie and Other Songs and Poems | |