Scottish Poetry Selection
- Address to the Unco Guid or the Rigidly Righteous
Address to the Unco Guid or the Rigidly Righteous
My Son, these maxims make a rule,
An lump them ay thegither:
The Rigid Righteous is a fool.
The Rigid Wise anither;
The cleanest corn that e'er was dight
May hae some pyles o caff in;
So ne'er a fellow-creature slight
For random fits o daffin.O ye, wha are sae guid yoursel,
Sae pious and sae holy,
Ye've nought to do but mark and tell
Your neebours' fauts and folly!
Whose life is like a weel-gaun mill,
Supplied wi store o water;
The heapet happer's ebbing still.
An still the clap plays clatter!Hear me, ye venerable core,
As counsel for poor mortals
That frequent pass douce Wisdom's door
For glaikit Folly's portals:
I for their thoughtless, careless sakes,
Would here propone defences
Their donsie tricks, their black mistakes,
Their failings and mischances.Ye see your state wi theirs compared,
And shudder at the niffer:
But cast a moment's fair regard,
What maks the mighty differ?
Discount what scant occasion gave,
That purity ye pride in;
And (what's aft mair than a' the lave)
Your better art o hidin.Think, when your castigated pulse
Gies now and then a wallop,
What ragings must his veins convulse,
That still eternal gallop!
Wi wind and tide fair i your tail
Right on ye scud your sea-way;
But in the teeth o baith to sail,
It maks an unco lee-way.See Social Life and Glee sit down,
All joyous and unthinking,
Till, quite transmugrify'd, they're grown
Debauchery and Drinking:
O, would they stay to calculate
Th' eternal consequences,
Or your more dreaded hell to state -
Damnation of expenses!Ye high, exalted, virtuous dames,
Tied up in godly laces,
Before ye gie poor Frailty names.
Suppose a change o cases:
A dear-lov'd lad. convenience snug,
A treach'rous inclination -
But, let me whisper i your lug,
Ye're aiblins nae temptation.Then gently scan your brother man,
Still gentler sister woman;
Tho they may gang a kennin wrang,
To step aside is human:
One point must still be greatly dark,
The moving Why they do It;
And just as lamely can ye mark,
How far perhaps they rue it.Who made the heart, 'tis He alone
Decidedly can try us:
He knows each chord, its various tone,
Each spring, its various bias:
Then at the balance let's be mute,
We never can adjust it.
What's done we partly may compute,
But know not what's resisted.Meaning of unusual words:
dight=sifted
caff=chaff
daffin=larking
weel-gaun=well-going
heapet=heaped, pile up
happer=hopper
clap=clapper of a mill
core=crowd
douce=sober, respectable
glaikit=stupid
propone=state in a court of law
donsie=unfortunate
niffer=barter,exchange
lave=rest
scud=sail quickly over
unco=uncommon
lug=ear
aiblins=perhaps
kennin=known
Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
