On Seeing One on a Lady’s Bonnet at Church
HA! whare ye gaun, ye crawlin’ ferlie?
Your impudence protects you sairly:
I canna say but ye strunt rarely
Owre gauze an’ lace;
Though, faith! I fear ye dine but sparely
On sic a place....
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On Turning Her up in Her Nest with the Plough, November, 1785
WEE, sleekit, cowerin’, timorous beastie,
O, what a panic ’s in thy breastie!
Thou needna start awa sae hasty,
Wi’ bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee,...
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A Tale
“Of Brownyis and of Bogilis full is this Buke.”
—GAWIN DOUGLAS.
WHEN chapman billies leave the street,
And drouthy neebors neebors meet,
As market-days are wearing late,
An’ folk begin to tak the gate;
While we sit bousing at the...
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Is there for honest poverty
Wha hangs his head, and a’ that?
The coward slave, we pass him by;
We dare be poor for a’ that.
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Our toils obscure, and a’ that;
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,—
The man ’s...
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Is there a whim-inspirèd fool,
Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule,
Owre blate 1 to seek, owre proud to snool; 2
Let him draw near,
And owre this grassy heap sing dool,
And drap a tear.
Is there a bard of rustic song,...
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My heart ’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart ’s in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe.
My heart ’s in the Highlands, wherever I go.
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birthplace...
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[June 24, 1314]
SCOTS, wha hae wi’ Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led;
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to victorie.
Now ’s the day, and now ’s the hour
See the front o’ battle lour:
See approach proud Edward’s power,—...
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Ye banks and braes o’ bonnie Doon,
How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair?
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And I sae weary, fu’ o’ care?
Thou ’lt break my heart, thou warbling bird,
That wantons through the flowering thorn;
Thou minds me o...
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My curse upon thy venomed stang,
That shoots my tortured gums alang;
An’ through my lugs gies mony a twang,
Wi’ gnawing vengeance!
Tearing my nerves wi’ bitter pang,
Like racking engines.
When fevers burn, or ague freezes,...
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