Robert Burns Day

January 25, 2012

Literature

To A Mouse

Wee, sleekit, cowran, 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, whyles, 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!

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13 Responses to “Robert Burns Day”

  1. Folly Says:
    25. January 2012 at 9:33 am

    Yeah what he said.

  2. Erinyes Says:
    25. January 2012 at 6:15 pm

    I don’t ken what yer talkin’ aboot, lassie!

  3. Erinyes Says:
    25. January 2012 at 7:33 pm

    Oh, yeah…bout time you posted.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnwIIKnWJtg&feature=related

  4. patti Says:
    25. January 2012 at 8:52 pm

    whaaaattt??? burns is great :D what is a Lang Syne anyway?

  5. Mrs. Who Says:
    25. January 2012 at 9:00 pm

    Glad to see you back!!! And quoting a bonny Scot… :thumbs:

  6. Peter Says:
    26. January 2012 at 4:13 am

    Well, nobody expected you to leap tall buildings with a single bound your first day back. Keep drinking lots of fluids and relax for little more time. Your energy and stamina will come back, just too durned slowly. Tomorrow you’ll do a little more.

    In the local news it was “payday” today so I went out and spent $380. 00 on groceries and such. The only extra I bought was a cell phone for me, a plain vanilla flip phone with no qerty keybord. Do you know that I can get unlimited phone and intertubes on my phone for less than it costs for our landline? We went the whole month without one single person we’ve ever met calling us on the landline, they all used Linda Lou’s super duper cell that has so many bells and whistles that I cannot make a call on it. So, now I won’t even be free of people wanting my time when I’m out and about. Foo.

    There was some kind of big deal speech from Obumbles the other night. Something about the state of the union. Did he say it would be better after he’s gone?

    • Pam Says:
      26. January 2012 at 6:17 am

      Thanks, Peter! :hug:

      I keep expecting to bounce right back the way I did when younger… guess that really is a Great Expectation, eh? ;)

      Hey, at least I can type today without every word coming out wrong… hmmm…

      You can’t run and you can’t hide, not with a cell. Unless you turn it on silent…. LOL!

      Yes, from what I understand the man exactly that… in so many words.

      :hug:

    • Folly Says:
      26. January 2012 at 4:41 pm

      Peter, that was in the rebuttal. What he said was, “I’m still here and I still suck.”

  7. me Says:
    26. January 2012 at 5:32 pm

    I thought he said it was Bush’s fault and the Republicans will not let him fix anything – same thing he said last year & the year before – it was done at an 8th grade level so his followers could understand