Classic Poem

A Kirk-yard Eclogue.

Whare the braid planes in dowy murmurs wave
Their ancient taps out o'er the cauld-clad grave,
Whare Geordie Girdwood, mony a lang spun day,
Houkit for gentlest banes the humblest clay,
Twa sheeted ghaists, sae grizly and sae wan,
'Mang lanely tombs their douff discourse began.
Watson . Cauld blaws the nippin north wi' angry sough,
And showers his hailstanes frae the Castle Cleugh
O'er the Grayfriars, whare, at mirkest hour,
Bogles and spectres wont to tak their tour,
Harlin' the pows and shanks to hidden cairns,
Amang the hamlocks wild and sun-burnt fearns:
But nane the night, save you and I, hae come
Frae the dreer mansions o' the midnight tomb.
Now whan the dawning's near, whan cock maun craw,
And wi' his angry bougil gar's withdraw,
Ayont the kirk we'll stap, and there tak bield,
While the black hours our nightly freedom yield.
Herriot . I'm we'll content; but binna cassen down,
Nor trow the cock will ca' ye hame o'er soon,
For tho' the eastern lift betakens day,
Changing her rokelay black for mantle grey,
Nae weirlike bird our knell of parting rings,
Nor sheds the caller moisture frae his wings.
Nature has chang'd her course; the birds o' day
Dozen in silence on the bending spray,
While owlets round the craigs at noon-tide flee,
And bludy hawks sit singan on the tree.
Ah, Caledon! the land I yence held dear,
Sair mane mak I for thy destruction near;
And thou, Edina! anes my dear abode,
Whan royal Jamie sway'd the sovereign rod,
In thae blest days, weel did I think bestow'd
To blaw thy poortith by wi' heaps o' gowd;
To mak thee sonsy seem wi' mony a gift,
And gar thy stately turrets speel the lift:
In vain did Danish Jones, wi' gimcrack pains,
In Gothic sculpture fret the pliant stanes:
In vain did he affix my statue here,
Brawly to busk wi' flow'rs ilk coming year;
My tow'rs are sunk, my lands are barren now,
My fame, my honour, like my flow'rs, maun dow.
Watson . Sure Major Weir, or some sic warlock wight,
Has flung beguilin' glamour o'er your sight;
Or else some kittle cantrip thrown, I ween,
Has bound in mirlygoes my ain twa ein,
If ever aught frae sense cou'd be believ'd
(And seenil hae my senses been deceiv'd)
This moment, o'er the tap o' Adam's tomb,
Fu' easy can I see your chiefest dome:
Nae corbie fleein' there, nor croupin' craws,
Seem to forspeak the ruin o' thy haws,
But a' your tow'rs in wonted order stand,
Steeve as the rocks that hem our native land.
Herriot . Think'na I vent my well-a-day in vain,
Kent ye the cause, ye sure wad join my mane.
Black be the day that e'er to England's ground
Scotland was eikit by the Union's bond;
For mony a menzie o' destructive ills
The country now maun brook frae mortmain-bills,
That void our test'ments, and can freely gie
Sic will and scoup to the ordain'd trustee,
That he may tir our stateliest riggins bare,
Nor acres, houses, woods, nor fishins spare,
Till he can lend the stoitering state a lift
Wi' gowd in gowpins as a grassum gift;
In lieu o' whilk, we maun be well content
To tyne the capital for three per cent.
A doughty sum indeed, whan now-a-days
They raise provisions as the stents they raise,
Yoke hard the poor, and lat the rich chiels be,
Pamper'd at ease by ither's industry.
Hale interest for my fund can scantly now
Cleed a' my callants backs, and stap their mou'
How maun their wames wi' sairest hunger slack,
Their duds in targets flaff upo' their back,
Whan they are doom'd to keep a lasting Lent,
Starving for England's weel at three per cent!
Watson . Auld Reikie than may bless the gowden times,
Whan honesty and poortith baith are crimes:
She little kend, whan you and I endow'd
Our hospitals for back-gaun burghers gude,
That e'er our siller or our lands shou'd bring
A gude bien living to a back-gaun king:
Wha, thanks to Ministry! is grown say wise,
He downa chew the bitter cud of vice;
For gin, frae Castlehill to Netherbow,
Wad honest houses bawdy-houses grow,
The Crown wad never speer the price o' sin,
Nor hinder younkers to the de'il to rin!
But gif some mortal green for pious fame,
And leave the poor man's pray'r to sain his name,
His gear maun a' be scatter'd by the claws
O' ruthless, ravenous, and harpy laws.
Yet, shou'd I think, altho' the bill tak place,
The Council winna lack sae meikle grace,
As lat our heritage at wanworth gang,
Or the succeeding generations wrang
O' braw bien maintenance and wealth o' lear,
Whilk else had drappit to their children's skair;
For mony a deep, and mony a rare engine
Hae sprung frae Herriot's wark, and sprung frae mine.
Herriot . I find, my friend, that ye but little ken,
There's e'en now on the earth a set o' men,
Wha, if they get their private pouches lin'd,
Gie nae a winnelstrae for a' mankind;
They'll sell their country, flae their conscience bare,
To gar the weigh-bauk turn a single hair.
The Government need only bait the line
Wi' the prevailing flee, the gowden coin;
Than our executors, and wise trustees,
Will sell them fishes in forbidden seas,
Upo' their dwining country girn in sport,
Laugh i' their sleeve, and get a place at court.
Wats . Ere that day come, I'll 'mang our spirits pick
Some ghaist that trokes and conjures wi' Auld Nick,
To gar the wind wi' rugher rumbles blaw,
And weightier thuds than ever mortal saw:
Fire-flaught and hail, wi' tenfauld fury's fires,
Shall lay yerd-laigh Edina's airy spires:
Tweed shall rin rowtin' down his banks out o'er,
Till Scotland's out o' reach o' England's pow'r;
Upo' the briny Borean jaws to float,
And mourn in dowy saughs her dowy lot.
Herriot . Yonder's the tomb o'wise Mackenzie fam'd,
Whase laws rebellious bigotry reclaim'd,
Freed the hale land o' covenanting fools,
Wha erst hae fash'd us wi' unnumber'd dools;
Till night we'll tak the swaird aboon our pows,
And than, whan she her ebon chariot rows,
We'll travel to the vaut wi' stealing stap,
And wauk Mackenzie frae his quiet nap;
Tell him our ails, that he, wi' wonted skill,
May fleg the schemers o' the mortmain bill.