[ LEADER HAUGHS]
Sing Erlington and Cowdenknowes where Homes had ance commanding, And Drygrange with the milk-white ewes, ’twixt Tweed and Leader standing. The bird that flees through Reedpath trees, and Gledswood banks ilk morrow, May chant and sing sweet Leader Haughs, and bonny howms of Yarrow. But Minstrel Burn cannot assuage his grief while life endureth, To see the changes of this age that fleeting time procureth, For mony a place stands in hard case, where blyth folk kenned nae sorrow, With Homes that dwelt on Leader braes, and Scott that dwelt on Yarrow.
[ EPITAPH ON A HARE]
Here lies, whom hound did ne’er pursue, Nor swifter greyhound follow, Whose foot ne’er tainted morning dew, Nor ear heard huntsman’s halloo;
Old Tiney, surliest of his kind, Who, nursed with tender care, And to domestic bounds confined, Was still a wild Jack hare.
Though duly from my hand he took His pittance every night, He did it with a jealous look, And, when he could, would bite.
His diet was of wheaten bread, And milk, and oats, and straw; Thistles, or lettuces instead, With sand to scour his maw.
On twigs of hawthorn he regaled, On pippins’ russet peel, And, when his juicy salads failed, Sliced carrot pleased him well.