To
a Mountain Daisy
by Robert
Burns
ON TURNING ONE DOWN WITH THE
PLOUGH IN APRIL 1786
|
| 1 |
| Wee, modest, crimson-tippèd flow'r, |
| Thou's met me in an evil hour; |
| For I maun crush amang the stoure |
|
Thy slender stem: |
| To spare thee now is past my pow'r, |
Thou bonie gem.
|
| 2 |
| Alas! it's no thy neebor sweet, |
| The bonie lark, companion meet, |
| Bending thee 'mang the dewy weet, |
|
Wi' spreckl'd breast! |
| When upward-springing, blythe, to
greet |
The purpling east.
|
| 3 |
| Cauld blew the bitter-biting
north |
| Upon thy early, humble birth; |
| Yet cheerfully thou glinted forth |
|
Amid the storm, |
| Scarse rear'd above the
parent-earth |
Thy tender form.
|
| 4 |
| The flaunting flow'rs our gardens
yield, |
| High shelt'ring woods and wa's
maun shield; |
| But thou, beneath the random
bield |
|
O' clod or stane, |
| Adorns the histie stibble-field, |
Unseen, alane.
|
| 5 |
| There, in thy scanty mantle clad, |
| Thy snawie bosom sun-ward spread, |
| Thou lifts thy unassuming head |
|
In humble guise; |
| But now the share uptears thy
bed, |
And low thou lies!
|
| 6 |
| Such is the fate of artless maid, |
| Sweet flow'ret of the rural
shade! |
| By love's simplicity betray'd, |
|
And guileless trust; |
| Till she, like thee, all soil'd,
is laid |
Low i' the dust.
|
| 7 |
| Such is the fate of simple Bard, |
| On Life's rough ocean luckless starr'd! |
| Unskilful he to note the card |
|
Of prudent lore, |
| Till billows rage, and gales blow
hard, |
And whelm him o'er'¡
|
| 8 |
| Such fate to suffering Worth is giv'n, |
| Who long with wants and woes has striv'n, |
| By human pride or cunning driv'n |
|
To mis'rys brink; |
| Till, wrench'd of ev'ry stay but
Heav'n, |
He, ruin'd, sink!
|
| 9 |
| Ev'n thou who mourn'st the
Daisy's fate, |
| That fate is thine - no distant
date; |
| Stern Ruin's plough-share drives
elate, |
|
Full on thy bloom, |
| Till crush'd beneath the furrow's
weight |
|
Shall be thy doom! |
| Robert Burns |
Classic Poems |
| |
|
[ A Red, Red Rose ] [ To a Mountain Daisy ] [ Address to a Haggis ] [ Address to Edinburgh ] [ Auld Lang Syne ] [ Is there for Honest Poverty ] [ Address to the Unco Guid ] [ The Cotter's Saturday Night ] [ To a Louse ] [ My Heart's in the Highlands ] [ Holy Willie's Prayer ] [ Tam O'Shanter ] [ To a Mouse ] |
