Robert Burns (1759–1796). Poems and Songs.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 179. To Miss Ferrier, enclosing Elegy on Sir J. H. Blair |
| | | | | Enclosing the Elegy on Sir J. H. Blair. |
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| NAE heathen name shall I prefix, | |
| Frae Pindus or Parnassus; | |
| Auld Reekie dings them a’ to sticks, | |
| For rhyme-inspiring lasses. | |
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| Jove’s tunefu’ dochters three times three | 5 |
| Made Homer deep their debtor; | |
| But, gien the body half an e’e, | |
| Nine Ferriers wad done better! | |
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| Last day my mind was in a bog, | |
| Down George’s Street I stoited; | 10 |
| A creeping cauld prosaic fog | |
| My very sense doited. | |
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| Do what I dought to set her free, | |
| My saul lay in the mire; | |
| Ye turned a neuk—I saw your e’e— | 15 |
| She took the wing like fire! | |
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| The mournfu’ sang I here enclose, | |
| In gratitude I send you, | |
| And pray, in rhyme as weel as prose, | |
| A’ gude things may attend you! | 20 |
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