A wee bit o' Burns

[Penny Tray]

Below thir stanes lie Jamie’s banes:
O Death, it’s my opinion,
Thou ne’er took such a bleth’rin bitch
Into thy dark dominion.

*EPITAPH ON A NOISY POLEMIC

[Penny Tray]

What tho they ca’ me fornicator,
An’ tease my name in kintra clatter,
The mair they talk, I’m kend the better,
E’en let them clash!
An auld wife’s tongue’s a feckless matter
To gie ane fash.

*A POET’S WELCOME TO HIS LOVE-BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER

[John Donnelly]

Harking back to my earlier comments about Burns' satirical bent, here's another of my big favourites.
Oh wad some po'er the Giftie gie us,
Tae see oorselves as ithers see us.

To a Louse.

JD.

[John Donnelly]

Below thir stanes lie Jamie’s banes:
O Death, it’s my opinion,
Thou ne’er took such a bleth’rin bitch
Into thy dark dominion.

*EPITAPH ON A NOISY POLEMIC

This raises a couple of questions for me.
This is directed at James Humphries, a stone mason who did some work for Burns.
When first reading it, I assumed that Humphries was dead and his bones lay under these stones, but Humphries outlived Burns by 48 years.
The other thing is his reference to a bletherin bitch, while referring to a man.
I always thought that a bitch referred to a woman. Any thoughts anybody???
JD.

Having some extra thoughts here. It's now obvious that this was a humorous dig looking towards the future.
My second question remains. J.

[Penny Tray]

JD,

My reading of the line is that Burns was suggesting that James Humphrey was a bigger blether than all the "bleth'rin bitches" that "Death" had previously taken!

[John Donnelly]

Right, now I see . He's not referring to Humphries as a bitch but likening him to all the women who normally do the blethering.
I'm getting old PT; I'm getting old.

JD,

[Penny Tray]

I'm getting old PT; I'm getting old.

O enviable early days,
When dancing thoughtless pleasure's maze
To care, to guilt unknown!
How ill exchang'd for riper times,
To feel the follies, or the crimes,
Of others, or my own!
Ye tiny elves that guiltless sport,
Like linnets in the bush,
Ye little know the ills ye court,
When manhood is your wish!
The losses, the crosses,
That active men enrage;
The fears all, the tears all,
Of dim declining age!

DESPONDENCY - AN ODE

[John Donnelly]

Thanks PT.
I needed that - like a hole in the head.
JD.

[Penny Tray]

I’ll act with prudence as far as I’m able,
But if success, I must never find,
Then come, Misfortune, I bid thee welcome –
I’ll meet thee with an undaunted mind!

*FICKLE FORTUNE

[Penny Tray]

Had I to guid advice but harkit,
I might, by this, hae led a market,
Or strutted in a bank and clarkit
My cash-account;
While here, half-mad, half-fed, half-sarkit,
Is a’ th’ amount.

*THE VISION

[Penny Tray]

O Goudie, terror o’ the Whigs,
Dread o' blackcoats and rev’rend wigs!
Sour Bigotry on his last legs,
Girns and looks back,
Wishing the ten Egyptian plagues
May seize you quick.

*EPISTLE TO JOHN GOLDIE, IN KILMARNOCK

[glenshena]

Below thir stanes lie Jamie’s banes:
O Death, it’s my opinion,
Thou ne’er took such a bleth’rin bitch
Into thy dark dominion.

*EPITAPH ON A NOISY POLEMIC

I take 'banes' to mean in this case, not bones but problems of Life or Worries . And under the grave Stone was a woman who blethered and argued constantly and bothered James a lot in Life. A Polemic means a person difficult to get along with, being always contrary.