O Henderson! the man! the brother!
And art thou gone, and gone for ever?
And hast thou crost that unknown river,
Life's dreary bound?
Like thee, where shall I find another,
The world around?
Go to your sculptur'd tombs, ye great,
In a' the tinsel trash o' state!
But by thy honest turf I'll wait,
Thou man of worth!
And weep the ae best fellow's fate
E'er lay in earth.
SCOTCH DRINK
_Gie him strong drink, until he wink,
That's sinking in despair;
An' liquor guid to fire his bluid,
That's prest wi' grief an' care;
There let him bouse, an' deep carouse,
Wi' bumpers flowing o'er,
Till he forgets his loves or debts,
An' minds his griefs no more._
SOLOMON (Proverbs xxxi. 6, 7).
Let other Poets raise a fracas
'Bout vines, an' wines, an' drunken Bacchus,
An' crabbed names an' stories wrack us,
An' grate our lug; [ear]
I sing the juice Scotch bear can mak us, [barley]
In glass or jug.
O thou, my Muse! guid auld Scotch Drink,
Whether thro' wimplin worms thou jink, [winding, dodge]
Or, richly brown, ream owre the brink, [cream]
In glorious faem, [foam]
Inspire me, till I lisp an' wink,
To sing thy name!
Let husky wheat the haughs adorn, [flat river-lands]
An' aits set up their awnie horn, [oats, bearded]
An' pease an' beans at een or morn,
Perfume the plain;
Leeze me on thee, John Barleycorn, [Commend me to]
Thou King o' grain!
On thee aft Scotland chows her cood, [chews, cud]
In souple scones, the wale o' food! [soft cakes, choice]
Or tumblin' in the boiling flood
Wi' kail an' beef;
But when thou pours thy strong heart's blood,
There thou shines chief.
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