There anger, wi' the hotchin' knife My conscience!-you that's like a wife!- I ken it fine: just waitin' here, To clart the guid, confüse the clear, My conscience! an' to raise a steer Sic-like, some tyke grawn auld and blind, Whan thieves brok' through the gear to p'ind, Has lain his dozened length an' grinned At the disaster; An' the morn's mornin', wud's the wind, TO DOCTOR JOHN BROWN (Whan the dear doctor, dear to a', But noo, Dear Doctor! he's awa', B Y Lyne and Tyne, by Thames and Tees By a' the various river-Dee's, In Mars and Manors 'yont the seas Or here at hame, Whaure'er there's kindly folk to please, They ken your name, they ken your tyke, (The truth to tell) It's just your honest Rab they like, As at the gowff, some canny play'r Should flourish and deleever fair An' the ba' rise into the air, Sae in the game we writers play, Their years o' strife, An' like you Rab, their things o' clay, Spreid wings o' life. Ye scarce deserved it, I'm afraid An' picked the fiddle up an' played Your e'e was gleg, your fingers dink; Ye stapped your pen into the ink, Sinsyne, whaure'er your fortune lay By dowie den, by canty brae, Simmer an' winter, nicht an' day, Rab was aye wi' ye; An' a' the folk on a' the way Were blithe to see ye. TO DR. JOHN BROWN O sir, the gods are kind indeed, An' lend-puir Rabbie bein' deid- For though, whaure'er yoursel' may be, The bogle of a bogle, he- And as the auld-farrand hero sees Pit there the lesser deid to please, Dwalls wi' the muckle gods at ease Sae the true Rabbie far has gane Wi' aulder frien's; an' his breist-bane He birstles at a new hearth stane By James and Ailie. XVI T's an owercome sooth for age an' youth IT' And it brooks wi' nae denial, That the dearest friends are the auldest friends There's a rival bauld wi' young an' auld For the sürest friends are the auldest friends There are kind hearts still, for friends to fill But the nearest friends are the auldest friends 1 |