January 25th is Rabbie Burns day!
Here's to Haggis!
And to whiskey!
And:
To A Louse
On seeing one on a lady's bonnet at church.
Ha! Whare ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie?
Your impudence protects you sairly,
I canna say but ye strut rarely
Owre gauze and lace,
Tho' faith! I fear ye dine but sparely
On sic a place.
Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,
Detested, shunn'd by saunt an' sinner,
How daur ye set your fit upon her --
Sae fine a lady!
Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner
On some poor body.
Swith! in some beggar's hauffet squattle:
There you may creep, and sprawl, and spr
Wi' ither kindred, jumping cattle,
In shoals and nations;
Whare horn nor bane ne'er daur unsettle
Your thick plantations.
Now haud you there! ye're out o' sight,
Below the fatt'rils, snug an' tight;
Na, faith ye yet! ye'll no be right,
Till ye've got on it ---
The vera tapmost, tow'ring height
O' miss's bonnet.
My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose ou
As plump an' grey as onie grozet:
O for some rank, mercurial rozet,
Or fell, red smeddum,
I'd gie ye sic a hearty dose o't,
Wad dress your droddum!
I wad na been surpris'd to spy
You on an auld wife's flainen toy:
Or aiblins some bit duddie boy,
On's wyliecoat;
But Miss's fine Lunardi! fye!
How daur ye do't.
O Jenny, dinna toss your head,
An' set your beauties a' abread!
You little ken what cursed speed
The blastie's makin!
Thae winks an' finger-ends, I dread,
Are notice takin'!
O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion:
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,
An' ev'n devotion!
I'll have the haggis and a large whiskey.
ReplyDeleteHold the haggis.
"Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,
ReplyDeleteDetested, shunn'd by saunt an' sinner,"
Oh how I'd like to say that to someone's face LOL!
Glad you could let it out somewhere.
ReplyDeleteNow just what was it you said? ;)
Here's the translation:
ReplyDelete"You ugly, creeping, blasted wonder,
Detested, shunned by saint and sinner,"
OK, so apparently images no longer work. oops
ReplyDeleteOh well, that haggis is making me slightly ill anyhow!
Cool thread, Fay.
Wow, the comment set-up is really different. I love To a Louse. I have a little leather-covered Burns book of poetry, published 1892. It's inscribed by my great aunt to her sister on Valentine's Day, 1908. :-)
ReplyDeleteImages work just fine: imgw:"http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d170/lewy14/-1-1.jpg"
ReplyDelete[What were you expecting to see... hmm?]
The problem is that they won't show up on the comment posting page - but they do show up in the comments on the main post. Same deal with the emoticons.
ok here's a naked chick: imgw:"http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d170/lewy14/2460.png"
ReplyDeleteThat's a solid gold statue of a (naked) Kate Moss. And yes, that's what I cropped my avatar image from. Bet nobody recognized her!
I should add: I like the poem - it's lyrical and compelling in meter and rhyme - but I can only get the meaning intermittently. It's challenging to puzzle out.
ReplyDeletee.g.: O Jenny, dinna toss your head,
An' set your beauties a' abread!
Which beauties is Mr. Burns referring to, exactly?
Now I've been inspired to write poems about women, and to women, but never to a louse which has set upon a woman. That... just never occurred to me.
@ flo
ReplyDeleteI will pay you 20 guineas for that wee book! I could certainly use it tomorrow night at the regiment Burns dinner!
/NEVER part with it.
Haggis. Ick. Ew. Double ick! I will have a glass of that lovely whiskey though. :)
ReplyDeleteI loved reading this poem again. The Scots have a way with words!