152. Extempore in the Court of Session

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1. 388. Extempore on some commemorations of Thomson DOST thou not rise, indignant shade, And smile wi’ spurning scorn, When they wha wad hae starved thy life, Thy senseless turf adorn? Helpless, alane, thou clamb the brae, Wi’ meikle honest toil, And claught th’ unfading garland there- Thy sair-worn, rightful spoil. And wear it thou! and call aloud This axiom undoubted- Would thou […]...
2. 286. Song-Highland Harry back again MY Harry was a gallant gay, Fu’ stately strade he on the plain; But now he’s banish’d far away, I’ll never see him back again. Chorus.-O for him back again! O for him back again! I wad gie a’ Knockhaspie’s land For Highland Harry back again. When a’ the lave gae to their bed, I […]...
3. 139. Lines on Meeting with Lord Daer THIS 1 wot ye all whom it concerns, I, Rhymer Robin, alias Burns, October twenty-third, A ne’er-to-be-forgotten day, Sae far I sprackl’d up the brae, I dinner’d wi’ a Lord. I’ve been at drucken writers’ feasts, Nay, been bitch-fou ‘mang godly priests- Wi’ rev’rence be it spoken!- I’ve even join’d the honour’d jorum, When mighty […]...
4. After the Engagement Well, Mabel, ’tis over and ended – The ball I wrote was to be; And oh! it was perfectly splendid – If you could have been here to see. I’ve a thousand things to write you That I know you are wanting to hear, And one, that is sure to delight you – I am […]...
5. Uncle Harry Oh, never let on to your own true love That ever you drank a drop; That ever you played in a two-up school Or slept in a sly-grog shop; That ever a bad girl nursed you round – That ever you sank so low. But she pulled you through, and it’s only you And your […]...
6. Audley Court ‘The Bull, the Fleece are cramm’d, and not a room For love or money. Let us picnic there At Audley Court.’ I spoke, while Audley feast Humm’d like a hive all round the narrow quay, To Francis, with a basket on his arm, To Francis just alighted from the boat, And breathing of the sea. […]...
7. Agincourt FAIR stood the wind for France When we our sails advance, Nor now to prove our chance Longer will tarry; But putting to the main, At Caux, the mouth of Seine, With all his martial train Landed King Harry. And taking many a fort, Furnish’d in warlike sort, Marcheth tow’rds Agincourt In happy hour; Skirmishing […]...
8. The Battle Of Agincourt Fair stood the wind for France When we our sails advance, Nor now to prove our chance Longer will tarry; But putting to the main, At Caux, the mouth of Seine, With all his martial train, Landed King Harry. And taking many a fort, Furnished in warlike sort, Marcheth towards Agincourt In happy hour; Skirmishing […]...
9. Ode to the Cambro-Britons and their Harp, His Ballad of Agi Fair stood the wind for France, When we our sails advance; Nor now to prove our chance Longer will tarry; But putting to the main, At Caux, the mouth of Seine, With all his martial train Landed King Harry. And taking many a fort, Furnish’d in warlike sort, Marcheth towards Agincourt In happy hour; Skirmishing […]...
10. A Nervous Governor-General We read in the press that Lord Northcote is here To take up Lord Tennyson’s mission. ‘Tis pleasant to find they have sent us a Peer, And a man of exalted position. It’s his business to see that the Radical horde From loyalty’s path does not swerve us; But his tastes, and the task, don’t […]...
11. Who Court obtain within Himself Who Court obtain within Himself Sees every Man a King And Poverty of Monarchy Is an interior thing No Man depose Whom Fate Ordain And Who can add a Crown To Him who doth continual Conspire against His Own...
12. Farewell to the Court Like truthless dreams, so are my joys expir’d, And past return are all my dandled days; My love misled, and fancy quite retir’d Of all which pass’d the sorrow only stays. My lost delights, now clean from sight of land, Have left me all alone in unknown ways; My mind to woe, my life in […]...
13. In Fountain Court The fountain murmuring of sleep, A drowsy tune; The flickering green of leaves that keep The light of June; Peace, through a slumbering afternoon, The peace of June. A waiting ghost, in the blue sky, The white curved moon; June, hushed and breathless, waits, and I Wait too, with June; Come, through the lingering afternoon, […]...
14. On a certain Lady at Court I know the thing that’s most uncommon; (Envy be silent and attend!) I know a Reasonable Woman, Handsome and witty, yet a Friend. Not warp’d by Passion, aw’d by Rumour, Not grave thro’ Pride, or gay thro’ Folly, An equal Mixture of good Humour, And sensible soft Melancholy. ‘Has she no Faults then (Envy says) […]...
15. BEFORE A COURT OF JUSTICE THE father’s name ye ne’er shall be told Of my darling unborn life; “Shame, shame,” ye cry, “on the strumpet bold!” Yet I’m an honest wife. To whom I’m wedded, ye ne’er shall be told, Yet he’s both loving and fair; He wears on his neck a chain of gold, And a hat of straw […]...
16. The Court is far away The Court is far away No Umpire have I My Sovereign is offended To gain his grace I’d die! I’ll seek his royal feet I’ll say Remember King Thou shalt thyself one day a Child Implore a larger thing That Empire is of Czars As small they say as I Grant me that day the […]...
17. Harrison Street Court I heard a woman’s lips Speaking to a companion Say these words: “A woman what hustles Never keeps nothin’ For all her hustlin’. Somebody always gets What she goes on the street for. If it ain’t a pimp It’s a bull what gets it. I been hustlin’ now Till I ain’t much good any more. […]...
18. Psalm 29 Storm and thunder. Give to the Lord, ye sons of fame, Give to {he Lord renown and power, Ascribe due honors to his name, And his eternal might adore. The Lord proclaims his power aloud Over the ocean and the land; His voice divides the wat’ry cloud, And lightnings blaze at his command. He speaks, […]...
19. Sleepy Harry “I do not like to go to bed,” Sleepy little Harry said; “Go, naughty Betty, go away, I will not come at all, I say! “ Oh, silly child! what is he saying? As if he could be always playing! Then, Betty, you must come and carry This very foolish little Harry. The little birds […]...
20. Nymphidia, The Court Of Fairy (excerpts) But let us leave Queen Mab a while, Through many a gate, o’er many a stile, That now had gotten by this wile, Her dear Pigwiggen kissing; And tell how Oberon doth fare, Who grew as mad as any hare, When he had sought each place with care, And found his queen was missing. By […]...
21. Sonnet IX: Queen Virtue's Court Queen Virtue’s court, which some call Stella’s face, Prepar’d by Nature’s choicest furniture, Hath his front built of alabaster pure; Gold in the covering of that stately place. The door by which sometimes comes forth her Grace Red porphir is, which lock of pearl makes sure, Whose porches rich (which name of cheeks endure) Marble […]...
22. 159. Song-My Lord a-Hunting he is gane Chorus.-MY lady’s gown, there’s gairs upon’t, And gowden flowers sae rare upon’t; But Jenny’s jimps and jirkinet, My lord thinks meikle mair upon’t. My lord a-hunting he is gone, But hounds or hawks wi’ him are nane; By Colin’s cottage lies his game, If Colin’s Jenny be at hame. My lady’s gown, &c. My lady’s […]...
23. Alone Lying, thinking Last night How to find my soul a home Where water is not thirsty And bread loaf is not stone I came up with one thing And I don’t believe I’m wrong That nobody, But nobody Can make it out here alone. Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here […]...
24. PROVERBS ‘TIS easier far a wreath to bind, Than a good owner fort to find. I KILL’D a thousand flies overnight, Yet was waken’d by one, as soon as twas light. To the mother I give; For the daughter I live. A BREACH is every day, By many a mortal storm’d; Let them fall in the […]...
25. 441. Complimentary Epigram to Mrs. Riddell “PRAISE Woman still,” his lordship roars, “Deserv’d or not, no matter?” But thee, whom all my soul adores, Ev’n Flattery cannot flatter: Maria, all my thought and dream, Inspires my vocal shell; The more I praise my lovely theme, The more the truth I tell....
26. Willard Fluke My wife lost her health, And dwindled until she weighed scarce ninety pounds. Then that woman, whom the men Styled Cleopatra, came along. And we we married ones All broke our vows, myself among the rest. Years passed and one by one Death claimed them all in some hideous form, And I was borne along […]...
27. Veni Creator I LORD of the grass and hill, Lord of the rain, White Overlord of will, Master of pain, I who am dust and air Blown through the halls of death, Like a pale ghost of prayer,- I am thy breath. Lord of the blade and leaf, Lord of the bloom, Sheer Overlord of grief, Master […]...
28. Godwin James Harry Wilmans! You who fell in a swamp Near Manila, following the flag, You were not wounded by the greatness of a dream, Or destroyed by ineffectual work, Or driven to madness by Satanic snags; You were not torn by aching nerves, Nor did you carry great wounds to your old age. You did not […]...
29. For Harry (My College Room-mate who Died) He cut his hand and it bled, the flesh Inside was red and the hurt discounted the flood Of red and vibrant blood that pulsed From the wound. But he was a warrior, A son whose mien would not countenance the pain And he bound the wound in strips of flax And stalked from the […]...
30. On Kusu Terrace The old gardens of Kusu Terrace Are a wilderness, yet the willows That remain still put out new branches; Lasses gathering water chestnuts Sing so loudly and with such Clarity, that the feeling of spring Returns to us; but where once stood The palace of the King of Wu, now Only the moon over the […]...
31. I heard a Fly buzz when I died I heard a Fly buzz when I died The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air Between the Heaves of Storm The Eyes around had wrung them dry And Breaths were gathering firm For that last Onset when the King Be witnessed in the Room I willed my Keepsakes Signed away […]...
32. Midnight Mass for the Dying Year Yes, the Year is growing old, And his eye is pale and bleared! Death, with frosty hand and cold, Plucks the old man by the beard, Sorely, sorely! The leaves are falling, falling, Solemnly and slow; Caw! caw! the rooks are calling, It is a sound of woe, A sound of woe! Through woods and […]...
33. The End of the World Here, at the end of the world, The flowers bleed As if they were hearts, The hearts ooze a darkness Like india ink, & poets dip their pens in & they write. “Here, at the end of the world,” They write, Not knowing what it means. “Here, where the sky nurses on black milk, Where […]...
34. Sense Of Something Coming I am like a flag in the center of open space. I sense ahead the wind which is coming, and must live It through. While the things of the world still do not move: The doors still close softly, and the chimneys are full Of silence, The windows do not rattle yet, and the dust […]...
35. Saddest Poem I can write the saddest poem of all tonight. Write, for instance: “The night is full of stars, And the stars, blue, shiver in the distance.” The night wind whirls in the sky and sings. I can write the saddest poem of all tonight. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too. On nights […]...
36. Tonight I Can Write Tonight I can write the saddest lines. Write, for example, ‘The night is starry And the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.’ The night wind revolves in the sky and sings. Tonight I can write the saddest lines. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too. Through nights like this one I […]...
37. Golden Days Another day of toil and strife, Another page so white, Within that fateful Log of Life That I and all must write; Another page without a stain To make of as I may, That done, I shall not see again Until the Judgment Day. Ah, could I, could I backward turn The pages of that […]...
38. Historion No man hath dared to write this thing as yet, And yet I know, how that the souls of all men great At times pass athrough us, And we are melted into them, and are not Save reflexions of their souls. Thus am I Dante for a space and am One Francois Villon, ballad-lord and […]...
39. You love the Lord you cannot see You love the Lord you cannot see You write Him every day A little note when you awake And further in the Day. An Ample Letter How you miss And would delight to see But then His House is but a Step And Mine’s in Heaven You see....
40. The Bonnie Lass o' Ruily ‘Twas in the village of Ruily there lived a bonnie lass With red, pouting lips which few lasses could surpass, And her eyes were as azure the blue sky, Which caused Donald McNeill to heave many a love sigh Beyond the township of Ruily she never had been, This pretty maid with tiny feet and […]...