Robert Burns (1759–1796). Poems and Songs.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 343. Address to the shade of Thomson |
| | | | | On Crowning His Bust at Ednam, Roxburghshire, with a Wreath of Bays. |
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| WHILE virgin Spring by Eden’s flood, | |
| Unfolds her tender mantle green, | |
| Or pranks the sod in frolic mood, | |
| Or tunes Eolian strains between. | |
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| While Summer, with a matron grace, | 5 |
| Retreats to Dryburgh’s cooling shade, | |
| Yet oft, delighted, stops to trace | |
| The progress of the spiky blade. | |
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| While Autumn, benefactor kind, | |
| By Tweed erects his aged head, | 10 |
| And sees, with self-approving mind, | |
| Each creature on his bounty fed. | |
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| While maniac Winter rages o’er | |
| The hills whence classic Yarrow flows, | |
| Rousing the turbid torrent’s roar, | 15 |
| Or sweeping, wild, a waste of snows. | |
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| So long, sweet Poet of the year! | |
| Shall bloom that wreath thou well hast won; | |
| While Scotia, with exulting tear, | |
| Proclaims that THOMSON was her son. | 20 |
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