Age: 124
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The Sands of Dee
"O MARY, go and call the cattle home, And call the cattle home, And call the cattle home, Across the sands of Dee!" The western wind was wild and dank with foam, And all alone went she.
The western tide crept up along the sand, And o'er and o'er the sand, And round and round the sand, As far as eye could see. The rolling mist came down and hid the land-- And never home came she.
"Oh! is it weed, or fish, or floating hair-- A tress of golden hair, A drownèd maiden's hair Above the nets at sea? Was never salmon yet that shone so fair Among the stakes on Dee."
They rowed her in across the rolling foam, The cruel crawling foam, The cruel hungry foam, To her grave beside the sea; But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home Across the sands of Dee.
Age: 124
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Young and Old from The Water Babies
WHEN all the world is young, lad, And all the trees are green; And every goose a swan, lad, And every lass a queen; Then hey for boot and horse, lad, And round the world away; Young blood must have its course, lad, And every dog his day.
When all the world is old, lad, And all the trees are brown; And all the sport is stale, lad, And all the wheels run down: Creep home and take your place there, The spent and maimed among: God grant you find one face there, You loved when all was young.
Age: 124
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Epistle to a Young Friend
I LANG hae thought, my youthfu' friend, A something to have sent you, Tho' it should serve nae ither end Than just a kind momento: But how the subject-theme may gang, Let time and change determine; Perhaps it may turn out a sang: Perhaps turn out a sermon.
Ye'll try the world soon my lad; And, Andrew dear, believe me, Ye'll find mankind an unco squad, And muckle they may grieve ye. For care and trouble set your thought, Ev'n when your end's attained; And a' your views may come to nought, Where ev'ry nerve is strained.
I'll no say, men are villains a'; The real, harden'd wicked, What hae nae check but human law, Are to a few restricked; But, och! mankind are unco weak, An' little to be trusted; If self the wavering balance shake, It's rarely right adjusted!
Yet they wha fa' in fortune's strife, Their fate we shouldna censure; For still, th'important end of life They equally may answer; A man may hae in honest heart, Tho' poortith hourly stare him; A man may tak a neibor's part, Yet hae nae cash to spare him.
Aye free, aff-han', your story tell, When wi' a bosom crony; But still keep something to yoursel', Ye scarcely tell to ony: Conceal yoursel' as weel's ye can Frae critical dissection; But keek thro' ev'ry other man, Wi' sharpen'd, sly inspection.
The sacred lowe o' well-plac'd love, Luxuriantly indulge it; But never tempt th' illicit rove, Tho' naething should divulge it: I waive the quantum o' the sin, The hazard of concealing; But, och! it hardens a' within, And petrifies the feeling!
To catch dame Fortune's golden smile, Assiduous wait upon her; And gather gear by ev'ry wile That's justified by honour; Not for to hide it in a hedge, Nor for a train attendant; But for the glorious privilege Of being independent.
The fear o' hell's a hangman's whip, To haud the wretch in order; But where ye feel your honour grip, Let that aye be your border; Its slightest touches, instant pause-- Debar a' side-pretences; And resolutely keep its laws, Uncaring consequences.
The great Creator to revere, Must sure become the creature; But still the preaching cant forbear, And ev'n the rigid feature: Yet ne'er with wits profane to range, Be complaisance extended; An atheist-laugh's a poor exchange For Deity offended!
When ranting round in pleasure's ring, Religion may be blinded; Or if she gie a random sting, It may be little minded; But when on life we're tempest-driv'n-- A conscience but a canker, A correspondence fix'd wi' Heav'n, Is sure a noble anchor!
Adieu, dear, amiable youth! Your heart can ne'er be wanting! May prudence, fortitude, and truth, Erect your brow undaunting! In ploughman phrase, ``God send you speed,'' Still daily to grow wiser; And may ye better reck the rede, Than ever did th' adviser!
Age: 124
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To a Mouse On Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough, November 1785
Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie, O, what a panic's in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty, Wi' bickering brattle! I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee, Wi' murd'ring pattle!
I'm truly sorry Man's dominion Has broken Nature's social union, An' justifies that ill opinion, Which makes thee startle At me, thy poor, earth-born companion, An' fellow-mortal!
I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve; What then? poor beastie, thou maun live! A daimen icker in a thrave 'S a sma' request: I'll get a blessin wi' the lave, An' never miss't!
Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin! It's silly wa's the win's are strewin! An' naething, now, to big a new ane, O' foggage green! An' bleak December's winds ensuin, Baith snell an' keen!
Thou saw the fields laid bare an' wast, An' weary Winter comin fast, An' cozie here, beneath the blast, Thou thought to dwell-- Till crash! the cruel coulter past Out thro' thy cell.
That wee-bit heap o' leaves an' stibble, Has cost thee monie a weary nibble! Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble, But house or hald. To thole the Winter's sleety dribble, An' cranreuch cauld!
But Mousie, thou are no thy lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy!
Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me! The present only toucheth thee: But och! I backward cast my e'e, On prospects drear! An' forward, tho' I canna see, I guess an' fear!
Age: 124
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To A Louse On Seeing One on a Lady's Bonnet at Church
HA! whare ye gaun, ye crowlin' ferlie? Your impudence protects you sairly; I canna say but ye strunt rarely, Owre gauze and lace, Tho'faith! I fear ye dine but sparely On sic a place.
Ye ugly, creepin', blastit wonner, Detested, shunned by saint an' sinner, How daur ye set your fit upon her-- Sae fine a lady! Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner On some poor body.
Swith! in some begger's haffet squattle: There ye may creep and sprawl and sprattle, Wi' ither kindred, jumping cattle, In shoals and nations; Whare horn nor bane ne'er daur unsettle Your thick plantations.
Now haud you there! ye're out o' sight, Below the fatt'rils, snug and tight; Na, faith ye yet! ye'll no be right Till ye've got on it-- The vera tapmost, tow'ring height O' Miss's bonnet.
My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out, As plump an' grey as onie groset; O for some rank, mercurial rozet; Or fell red smeddum, I'd gie ye sic a heartly dose o't, Wad dress your droddum.
I wad na been suprised to spy You on an auld wife's flainen toy; Or aiblins some bit duddie boy, On 's wyliecoat; But Miss's fine Lunardi! fye! How daur ye do't?
O Jenny, dinna toss your head, An, set your beauties a' abread! Ye little ken what cursed speed The blastie's makin'! Thae winks an' finger-ends, I dread, Are notice takin'!
O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, An' foolish notion; What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us, An' ev'n devotion!
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Address To The Unco Guid or the rigidly righteous
My Son, these maxims make a rule, An' lump them aye thegither; The Rigid Righteous is a fool, The Rigid Wise anither: The cleanest corn that ere was dight May hae some pyles o' caff in; So ne'er a fellow creature slight For random fits o' daffin. Solomon.--Eccles. ch. vii. verse 16
O YE wha are sae guid yoursel', Sae pious and sae holy, Ye've nought to do but mark and tell Your neibours' fauts and folly! Whase life is like a weel-gaun mill, Supplied wi' store o' water; The heapèd happer's ebbing still, An' still the clap plays clatter.
Hear me, ye venerable core, As counsel for poor mortals That frequent pass douce Wisdom's door For glaikit Folly's portals: I, for their thoughtless, careless sakes, Would here propone defences-- Their donsie tricks, their black mistakes, Their failings and mischances.
Ye see your state wi' theirs compared, And shudder at the niffer; But cast a moment's fair regard, What makes the mighty differ? Discount what scant occassion gave, That purity ye pride in; And (what's aft mair than a' the lave) Your better art o' hidin.
Think, when your castigated pulse Gies now and then a wallop, What ragings must his veins convulse, That still eternal gallop! Wi' wind and tide fair i' your tail, Right on ye scud your sea-way; But in the teeth o' baith to sail, It maks a unco lee-way.
See Social Life and Glee sit down, All joyous and unthinking, Till, quite transmugrified, they're grown Debauchery and Drinking: O would they stay to calculate Th' external consequences; Or your more dreaded hell to state Damnation of expenses!
Ye high, exalted, virtuous dames, Tied up in godly laces, Before ye gie poor Frailty names, Suppose a change o' cases; A dear-lov'd lad, convenience snug, A treach'rous inclination-- But let me whisper i' your lug, Ye're aiblins nae temptation.
Then gently scan your brother man, Still gentler sister woman; Tho' they may gang a kennin wrang, To step aside is human; One point must still be greatly dark,-- The moving Why they do it; And just as lamely can ye mark, How far perhaps they rue it.
Who made the heart, 'tis He alone Decidedly can try us; He knows each chord, its various tone, Each spring, its various bias: Then at the balance let's be mute, We never can adjust it; What's done we partly may compute, But know not what's resisted.
Age: 124
6855 days old here
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The Gloomy Night is Gath'ring Fast
THE gloomy night is gath'ring fast, Loud roars the wild inconstant blast; Yon murky cloud is filled with rain, I see it driving o'er the plain; The hunter now has left the moor, The scatt'red coveys meet secure; While here I wander, prest with care, Along the lonely banks of Ayr.
The Autumn mourns her rip'ning corn By early Winter's ravage torn; Across her placid, azure sky, She sees the scowling tempest fly; Chill runs my blood to hear it rave: I think upon the stormy wave, Where many a danger I must dare, Far from the bonie banks of Ayr.
'Tis not the surging billows' roar, 'Tis not the fatal, deadly shore; Tho' death inev'ry shape appear, The wretched have no more to fear: But round my heart the ties are bound, That heart transpierc'd with many a wound; These bleed afresh, those ties I tear, To leave the bonie banks of Ayr.
Farewell, old Coila's hills and dales, Her heathy moors and winding vales; The scenes where wretched Fancy roves, Pursuing past, unhappy loves! Farewell my friends! Farewell my foes! My peace with these, my love with those-- The bursting tears my heart declare, Farewell, my bonie banks of Ayr.
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Address to a Haggis
FAIR fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the pudding-race! Aboon them a' ye tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm: Well are ye wordy o' a grace As lang's my arm.
The groaning trencher there ye fill, Your hurdies like a distant hill, Your pin wad help to mend a mill In time o' need, While thro' your pores the dews distil Like amber bead.
His knife see rustic Labour dight, An' cut you up wi' ready sleight, Trenching your gushing entrails bright, Like ony ditch; And then, O what a glorious sight, Warm-reekin, rich!
Then, horn for horn, they stretch an' strive: Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive, Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve, Are bent lyke drums; Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive, ``Bethankit!'' hums.
Is there that owre his French ragout Or olio that wad staw a sow, Or fricasse wad mak her spew Wi' perfect sconner, Looks down wi' sneering, scorfu' view On sic a dinner?
Poor devil! see him owre his trash, As feckless as a wither'd rash, His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash, His nieve a nit; Thro' bloody flood or field to dash, O how unfit!
But mark the Rustic, haggis fed, The trembling earth resounds his tread. Clap in his walie nieve a blade, He'll mak it whissle; An' legs an' arms, an' heads will sned, Like taps o' thrissle.
Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care, And dish them out their bill o' fare, Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware That jaups in luggies; But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer, Gie her a haggis!
Age: 124
6855 days old here
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Of A' the Airts
OF a' the airts the wind can blaw, I dearly like the west, For there the bonnie lassie lives, The lassie I lo'e best: There's wild woods grow, and rivers row, And mony a hill between; But day and night my fancy's flight Is ever wi' my Jean.
I see her in the dewey flowers, I see her sweet and fair; I hear her in the tunefu' birds, I hear her charm the air: There's not a bonnie flower that springs By fountain, shaw, or green, There's not a bonie bird that sings, But minds me o' my Jean.
Age: 124
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Afton Water
FLOW gently, sweet Afton, among thy Green braes, Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise; My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream, Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.
Thou stock-dove whose echo resounds through the glen, Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den, Thou green-crested lapwing, thy screaming forbear, I charge you disturb not my slumbering fair.
How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighboring hills, Far marked with the courses of clear winding rills; There daily I wander as noon rises high, My flocks and my Mary's sweet cot in my eye.
How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below, Where wild in the woodlands the primroses blow; There oft as mild evening weeps over the lea, The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me.
Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides, And winds by the cot where my Mary resides; How wanton the waters her snowy feet lave, As gathering sweet flowerets she stems thy clear wave.
Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy Green braes, Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays; My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream, Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.