TO A YOUNG LADY.
[This young lady was the daughter of the poet’s friend, Graham of Fintray; and the gift alluded to was a copy of George Thomson’s Select Scottish Songs: a work which owes many attractions to the lyric genius of Burns.]
Here, where the Scottish muse immortal lives,
In sacred strains and tuneful numbers join’d,
Accept the gift;—tho’ humble he who gives,
Rich is the tribute of the grateful mind.
So may no ruffian feeling in thy breast,
Discordant jar thy bosom-chords among;
But peace attune thy gentle soul to rest,
Or love ecstatic wake his seraph song.
Or pity’s notes in luxury of tears,
As modest want the tale of woe reveals;
While conscious virtue all the strain endears,
And heaven-born piety her sanction seals.