Classic Poem

It was about the midnight hour:
The dew was heavy on the flow'r,
The winds were hushed, the weeds were still;
And silence hung upon the hill.
Afar upon the white-walled town
The waning moon looked sadly down,
And all was quiet by the rill,
Save when the wand'ring whip-poor-will
By fits sent forth its weary wail
To pity in the greenwood vale.

The busy world to sleep had gone,
Yet I sat musing all alone.
I heard the bat's wing rise and fall,
The cricket chirp upon the wall.
The cat was watching by the seams,
Old Towser hunting in his dreams,
While I was rapt in admiration
Of this our age's elevation;
And drawing many a queer contrast
Between the present and the past.

Said I, " We've reach'd a height sublime
Ne'er dreamt o' in the olden time,
Where we may safely sit at last,
And look wi' pity on the past.
Old Superstition's dead and gane;
She dee't wi' mony a dreary grane,
For Knowledge, the regenerator,
Fought wi' her till he fairly beat her.
O' sic a feat we weel may brag;
We've fairly kilt the gruesome hag!

" Our fathers, sure, were silly fools,
Wi' ghosts, and jougs, and cutty stools;
And then they lived in sic like biggins,
Wi' nocht but strae raips for the riggins!
Could they but frae the graves be brocht,
To see the wonders we hae wrocht,
How they would marvel at the sight,
And think their bairns had a' gane gyte!
Wadna' they gape, and stare, and staumer,
And talk o' witchcraft and o' glaumer?

" I'd like to hear my great-grandsire
Commenting on th' electric wire,
And on our ship, o' ships the wale,
That snoove on without wind or sail;
And then our modes to test and scan
The working out o' Nature's plan;
Our proofs, frae shells and moss-grown stanes,
Frae mastodon's and mammoth's banes,
How hills are carried here and there,
How worlds evaporate like air!
He'd think the de'il was in the lan',
The judgment day just close at han'. "

" Hush! " said a deep voice in my ear,
And, looking up, I shook wi' fear,
For there I saw before me pass
Gaunt forms that ance were men, alas!
Whole generations o' the dead
Were passing, yea, without a tread!
I saw the Celt and Saxon come,
All marching to a music dumb.

A spectre led the ghastly crew;
It motion'd, and they all withdrew,
Save ane auld man, o' aspect stern,
Like some old covenanting kern:
Upon his head a bonnet blue,
And in his hand a staff o' yew;
His shepherd's plaid was checker'd three,
His breeches buckled at the knee;
His stockings, rig-an'-fur o' blue,
Set aff a sturdy shank, I trou;
His coat, a kind o' woolsey stuff,
Wi' leather buttons, flap and cuff;
A dirk was dangling at his waist,
A Bible peeping frae his breast.

Tho' I was in nae mood for daffin,
Yet I could hardly keep frae laughin'.
As he approach'd wi' solemn pace,
I smirkit richt within his face;
Says I, " Guidman, gif ane micht speer,
Wha are ye? and what want ye here? "

" I'm ane o' your ain auld forebears,
Wha's deid mair nor a hunner years.
Nae won'er I appear in anger:
I've borne, till I can bear nae langer,
Wi' a' the scorn and lies ye tell
On folk far better than yoursel'.
To think a set o' puir wee creatures,
Wi' scrimpit shanks and heartless natures,
Wad heap contempt on them wha brang them
Ocht guid that yet remains amang them! "

Says I, " Your wrath is out o' season.
This age will list to nocht but reason:
We scorn a' foolish old pretences,
Things must be vouch'd for by the senses.
Look to the progress we hae made,
Our halls o' science, boards o' trade;
We're better, and we're bigger, too,
And wiser, that I will avou.
The very infants in our schools
Might teach some sense to doitit fools. "

" As for your progress, I must say
Ye're far ahead o' honesty;
And then your teachers tak' such pains
To mak' ye men afore ye're weans,
That ony sense that nature gies ye,
By everlasting pourin' lea's ye.
Infants ye are, infants remain;
Ye're ane o' them, or I'm mista'en. "

Says I, " Stick till't — there's naething like it —
Folk's aye conceited when they're doitit;
But will ye really now defend
Your crimes and follies without end —
Your fauseness a' the fowk deceivin',
Your border ridin' and your reavin',
Your faith in stabbing wi' the dirk,
And ilka kind o' bluidy work;
Your strange belief in wicked e'en,
Your clues to mak' a foe a frien',
Your cures for witch-bewilder'd bairns,
Wrocht 'neath the moon at dead-men's cairns?
Is't possible you would bring back
Your fire, your fagot, and your rack;
Your hunts o' heretics and limmers,
Your doukin' o' uncanny kimmers,
Your magic words to lay the Deil,
As up the pulpit stairs he'd speel;
Your bringing o' the holy book,
And shakin't at him till he shook?
And ye wad hae us to exchange
Our boundless intellectual range,
Our wisdom and humanity,
For your auld dead insanity? "

" For ane wha thinks a' men are brithers
Ye're guid at fin'in' faut wi' ithers.
Look nearer hame, and there, I trou,
Ye'll fin' ye hae eneuch to do —
Look to your list o' black transgressions,
Deceits, heart-burnings, and oppressions;
Look to your hordes o' helpless paupers,
Your mighty army o' street-walkers.
Starvation and tyrannic pride
Are ever walking side by side.
Your working men, alack-a-day,
God pity them, I weel may say!
How many dree an awfu' doom,
Condemn'd forever to the loom;
And some in fact'ries and in mines,
On whom the blessed sun ne'er shines.
Frae year to year they onward grope,
Poor creatures, without heart or hope,
Wi' pale, wi' melancholy features,
Ye scarce can think them human creatures.
Ere ye our ancient ways condemn
Say what has Science dune for them?
For ev'ry ill ye've pointed out
Ye've ten that we kent nocht about.
And where our ancient virtue? Where
The big hearts that would do or dare?
Wi' a' your outside things o' art
Ye're bankrupt both in head and heart;
Your life's a game at hide and seek,
Like laddies playing at bo-keek;
And then, ye're a' sae nice and gentle,
Sae milky and sae sentimental;
My blessings on your mealy mouth,
Ye're always chokit wi' the truth. "

" Whist, whist, " says I, " Upon my conscience,
Nae mortal ever heard sic nonsense!
It's fause! besides, I canna bear it;
Nor will I langer sit and hear it! " —
And starting up in anger deep
I found I'd been an hour asleep!