This wot ye all whom it concerns, I, Rhymer Robin, alias Burns, October twenty-third, A ne'er-to-be-forgotten day, Sae far I sprackl'd up the brae, I dinner'd wi' a Lord. I've been at drucken writers' feasts, Nay, been bitch-fou 'mang godly priests -- Wi' rev'rence be it spoken! -- I've even join'd the honour'd jorum, When mighty Squireships of the quorum, Their hydra drouth did sloken. But wi' a Lord! -- stand out my shin, A Lord-a Peer -- an Earl's son! Up higher yet, my bonnet An' sic a Lord! -- lang Scoth ells twa, Our Peerage he o'erlooks them a', As I look o'er my sonnet. But O for Hogarth's magic pow'r! To show Sir Bardie's willyart glow'r, An' how he star'd and stammer'd, When, goavin, as if led wi' branks, An' stumpin on his ploughman shanks, He in the parlour hammer'd. I sidying shelter'd in a nook, An' at his Lordship steal't a look, Like some portentous omen; Except good sense and social glee, An' (what surpris'd me) modesty, I marked nought uncommon. I watch'd the symptoms o' the Great, The gentle pride, the lordly state, The arrogant assuming; The fient a pride, nae pride had he, Nor sauce, nor state, that I could see, Mair than an honest ploughman. Then from his Lordship I shall learn, Henceforth to meet with unconcern One rank as weel's another; Nae honest, worthy man need care To meet with noble youthful Daer, For he but meets a brother. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: ADAM WEIRAUCH by EDGAR LEE MASTERS HOMAGE TO SEXTUS PROPERTIUS: 8 by EZRA POUND SONG OF SAUL BEFORE HIS LAST BATTLE by GEORGE GORDON BYRON TWO GRANDMOTHERS by IRENE ARCHER PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 48. AL-WADOOD by EDWIN ARNOLD |