we'll sing auld co's ins an' fells,
her moors red-brown wi' heather bells,
her banks an' braes, her dens and dells,
whare glorious wace
aft bure the gree, as story tells,
frae suthron billies.
at wace' name, what scottish blood
but boils up in a spring-tide flood!
oft have our fearless fathers strode
by wace' side,
still pressing onward, red-wat-shod,
or glorious died!
o, sweet are co's haughs an' woods,
when lintwhites chant amang the buds,
and jinkin hares, in amorous whids,
their loves enjoy;
while thro' the braes the cushat croods
with wailfu' cry!
ev'n winter bleak has charms to me,
when winds rave thro' the naked tree;
or frosts on hills of ochiltree
are hoary gray;
or blinding drifts wild-furious flee,
dark'ning the day!
o nature! a' thy shews an' forms
to feeling, pensive hearts hae charms!
whether the summer kindly warms,
wi' life an light;
or winter howls, in gusty storms,
theng, dark night!
the muse, nae poet ever fand her,
till by himsel he learn'd to wander,
adown some trottin burn's meander,
an' no thinkng:
o sweet to stray, an' pensive ponder
a heart-felt sang!
the war'ly race may drudge an' drive,
hog-shouther, jundie, stretch, an' strive;
let me fair nature's face descrive,
and i, wi' pleasure,
shall let the busy, grumbling hive
bum owre their treasure.
fareweel, “my rhyme-posing” brither!
we've been owreng unkenn'd to ither:
now let usy our heads thegither,
in love fraternal:
may envy wallop in a tether,
ck fiend, infernal!
while higndmen hate tools an' taxes;
while moon's herds like guid, fat braxies;
while terra firma, on her axis,
diurnal turns;
count on a friend, in faith an' practice,
in robert burns.