We maun juist tak’ things as we find them then,

And mak’ a kirk or mill o’ them as we can,

—And yet I feel this muckle thistle’s staun’in’

Atween me and the mune as pairt o’ a Plan.

It isna there—nor me—by accident.

We’re brocht thegither for a certain reason,

Ev’n gin it’s naething mair than juist to gi’e

My jaded soul a necessary frisson.

I never saw afore a thistle quite

Sae intimately, or at sic an ’oor.