Still thou art blest, compared wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But, och! I backward cast my e'e
On prospects drear!

An' fellow-mortal!

I guess an' fear.

40

Yet cheerfully thou glinted forth

Amid the storm,

Scarce reared above the parent earth
Thy tender form.

The flaunting flowers our gardens yield,
High shelt'ring woods and wa's1 maun

shield,

But thou, beneath the random bield 2

O' clod or stane,

3

Adorns the histie stibble-field,
Unseen, alane.

There, in thy scanty mantle clad,
Thy snawie bosom sunward spread,
Thou lifts thy unassuming head
In humble guise;

But now the share uptears thy bed,
And low thou lies!

Such is the fate of artless maid,
Sweet floweret of the rural shade!
By love's simplicity betrayed,

And guileless trust,

Till she, like thee, all soiled, is laid
Low i' the dust.

Such is the fate of simple bard,
On life's rough ocean luckless starr'd!
Unskillful he to note the card

Of prudent lore,

Till billows rage, and gales blow hard, And whelm him o'er!

20

30

40

But, Davie, lad, ne'er fash 15 your head;
Tho' we hae little gear,'
We're fit to win our daily bread,
As lang's we're hale and fier 17
"Mair spier 18 na, nor fear na,'

Auld age ne'er mind a feg,19
The last o't, the warst o't,

Is only but to beg.

20

31

To lie in kilns an' barns at e'en,
When banes are crazed, and bluid is thin,
Is doubtless great distress!
Yet then content could mak us blest;
Ev'n then, sometimes, we'd snatch a taste
Of truest happiness.

4 hang

fire

⚫ westerly

7 in

8 side of the fireplace

16 wealth

17 sound

comfortable

10 heed

11 fellows

18 ask

19 fig

(To say aught less wad wrang the cartes, And flatt'ry I detest)

This life has joys for you and I;
And joys that riches ne'er could buy;
And joys the very best.

There's a' the pleasures o' the heart,
The lover and the frien';

Ye hae your Meg, your dearest part,
And I my darling Jean!

It warms me, it charms me,
To mention but her name:
It heats me, it beets 7 me,
And sets me a' on flame!

O all ye Pow'rs who rule above! O Thou whose very self art love!

ΙΟΙ

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