Robert Burns (1759–1796). Poems and Songs.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 311. On the Birth of a Posthumous Child |
| | | | | Born in peculiar circumstances of family distress. |
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| SWEET flow’ret, pledge o’ meikle love, | |
| And ward o’ mony a prayer, | |
| What heart o’ stane wad thou na move, | |
| Sae helpless, sweet, and fair? | |
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| November hirples o’er the lea, | 5 |
| Chill, on thy lovely form: | |
| And gane, alas! the shelt’ring tree, | |
| Should shield thee frae the storm. | |
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| May He who gives the rain to pour, | |
| And wings the blast to blaw, | 10 |
| Protect thee frae the driving show’r, | |
| The bitter frost and snaw. | |
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| May He, the friend o’ Woe and Want, | |
| Who heals life’s various stounds, | |
| Protect and guard the mother plant, | 15 |
| And heal her cruel wounds. | |
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| But late she flourish’d, rooted fast, | |
| Fair in the summer morn, | |
| Now feebly bends she in the blast, | |
| Unshelter’d and forlorn. | 20 |
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| Blest be thy bloom, thou lovely gem, | |
| Unscath’d by ruffian hand! | |
| And from thee many a parent stem | |
| Arise to deck our land! | |
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