n,
Gang aft a-gley,[7-14]
An' lea'e us nought but grief and pain,
For promis'd joy.

Still them are 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,[8-15]
I guess an' fear.

FOOTNOTES:

[5-1] _Sleekit_ means _sly_.

[5-2] _Brattle_ means a short race.

[5-3] A _pattle_ is a scraper for cleaning a plow.

[6-4] _Daimen-icker_ means an ear of corn occasionally.

[6-5] A _thrave_ is twenty-four sheaves.

[6-6] _Lave_ is the Scotch word for _remainder_.

[7-7] _Foggage_ is coarse uncut grass.

[7-8] _Snell_ means _sharp_.

[7-9] The coulter is the sharp iron which cuts the sod before the plow.

[7-10] _Hald_ means a resting place. _But_ here means _without_.

[7-11] _Thole_ is the Scotch word for _endure_.

[7-12] _Cranreuch_ is hoar-frost.

[7-13] _No thy lane_ means _not alone_.

[7-14] _Gang aft a-gley_ means _often go wrong_.

[8-15] In this poem and the one _To a Mountain Daisy_, does the allusion
to the poet's own hard fate add to or detract from the beauty of the
composition? Do these allusions give any insight into his character?
What was always uppermost in his mind?

[Illustration: ROBERT BURNS
1759-1796]

TO A MOUNTAIN DAISY

ON TURNING ONE DOWN WITH THE PLOUGH IN APRIL, 1786

_By_ ROBERT BURNS

Wee, modest, crimson-tipped flower,
Thou's met me in an evil hour,
For I maun[8-1] crush amang the stoure[8-2]
Thy slender stem;
To spare thee now is past my power,
Thou bonny gem.

Alas! it's no thy neibor sweet,
The bonny lark, companion meet,
Bending thee' mang the dewy weet,
Wi' spreckled[8-3] breast,
When upward springing, blithe, to greet
The purpling east.

Cauld blew the bitter biting north
Upon thy early, humble birth;
Yet cheerfully thou glinted forth
Amid the storm,
Scarce reared above the parent earth
Thy tender form.

[Illustration: THOU BONNY GEM]

The flaunting flowers our gardens yield,
High sheltering woods and wa's maun shield.
But thou beneath the random bield[9-4]
O' clod or stane,
Adorns the histie[9-5] stibble-field,