ROBERT BURNS The Address to the Haggis Auld Lang Syne The Bonny Wee Thing Epistle to Dr. Blacklock Farewell Invitation to a Medical Gentleman Is There for Honest Poverty The Jolly Beggars: A Cantata Masonic Song The Master’s Apron Miscellanea Oh, were I on Parnassus' Hill A Red Red Rose Scots Wha Hae With Wallace Bled Such a Parcel of Rogues To a Mouse Three Graces for dinner The Tree of Liberty

The verse of Robert Burns Detail from an unsigned, undated oil painting owned by Ancient Light Lodge No.88 in Delta, British Columbia. You can also download a grayscale version or silhouette. TO A MOUSE, on turning her up in her Nest with the Plough, November, 1785. Wee, sleeket, cowrin, tim'rous beastie, Oh, what a panic’s in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty Wi' bickerin brattle! I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee Wi' murd'ring pattle! I'm truly sorry Man’s dominion Has broken Nature’s social union, An' justifies that ill opinion Which makes thee startle At me, thy poor earth-born companion, An' fellow-mortal! I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve; What then? poor beastie, thou maun live! A daimen-icker in a thrave ’s a sma' request; I'll get a blessin wi' the lave, An' never miss 't! Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin! Its silly wa’s the win’s are strewin! An' naething, now, to big a new ane, O' foggage green! An' bleak December’s winds ensuin, Baith snell an' keen! Thou saw the fields laid bare an' wast, An' weary Winter comin fast, An' cozie here beneath the blast, Thou thought to dwell, Till crash! the cruel coulter past Out thro' thy cell. That wee-bit heap o' leaves an' stibble, Has cost thee monie a weary nibble! Now thou’s turn'd out for a' thy trouble, But house or hald, To thole the winter’s sleety dribble An' cranreuch cauld! But, Mousie, thou art no thy-lane In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy! Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me! The present only toucheth thee: But, Och! I backward cast my e'e, On prospects drear! An' forward, tho' I canna see, I guess an' fear! Transcribed from a 1927 facsimile of the Kilmarnock edition of 1786, p. 138.

ANTI-MASONRY | ESSAYS & PAPERS | GRAND LODGE OF BC AND YUKON | HOME | LINKS | SITEMAP

© 1871-2023 Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon A.F. & A.M. Updated: March 16, 2001 freemasonry.bcy.ca/rabbie_burns/burns_verse/for_a_that.html