Robert Burns (1759–1796). Poems and Songs.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 17. Paraphrase of the First Psalm |
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| THE MAN, in life wherever plac’d, | |
| Hath happiness in store, | |
| Who walks not in the wicked’s way, | |
| Nor learns their guilty lore! | |
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| Nor from the seat of scornful pride | 5 |
| Casts forth his eyes abroad, | |
| But with humility and awe | |
| Still walks before his God. | |
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| That man shall flourish like the trees, | |
| Which by the streamlets grow; | 10 |
| The fruitful top is spread on high, | |
| And firm the root below. | |
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| But he whose blossom buds in guilt | |
| Shall to the ground be cast, | |
| And, like the rootless stubble, tost | 15 |
| Before the sweeping blast. | |
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| For why? that God the good adore, | |
| Hath giv’n them peace and rest, | |
| But hath decreed that wicked men | |
| Shall ne’er be truly blest. | 20 |
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