The hirelings ran—her foes gied chase,
And banged the despot weel, man.
Let Britain boast her hardy oak,
Her poplar and her pine, man,
Auld Britain ance could crack her joke,
And o’er her neighbours shine, man.
But seek the forest round and round,
And soon ’twill be agreed, man,
That sic a tree can not be found,
’Twixt London and the Tweed, man.
Without this tree, alake this life
Is but a vale o’ woe, man;
A scene o’ sorrow mixed wi’ strife,
Nae real joys we know, man.
We labour soon, we labour late,
To feed the titled knave, man;
And a’ the comfort we’re to get
Is that ayont the grave, man.
Wi’ plenty o’ sic trees, I trow,
The warld would live in peace, man;
The sword would help to mak a plough,
The din o’ war wad cease, man.
Like brethren in a common cause,
We’d on each other smile, man;
And equal rights and equal laws
Wad gladden every isle, man.
Wae worth the loon wha wadna eat
Sic halesome dainty cheer, man;
I’d gie my shoon frae aff my feet,
To taste sic fruit, I swear, man.
Syne let us pray, auld England may
Sure plant this far-famed tree, man;
And blythe we’ll sing, and hail the day
That gave us liberty, man.
No I’m not going ten thousand miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end.
Muhammad Ali
The Slave’s Lament
It was in sweet Senegal that my foes did me enthrall
For the lands of Virginia-ginia O;
Torn from that lovely shore, and must never see it more,
And alas! I am weary, weary O!
Torn from, &c.
All on that charming coast is no bitter snow and frost,
Like the lands of Virginia-ginia O;
There streams for ever flow, and there flowers for ever blow,
And alas! I am weary, weary O!
There streams, &c.
The burden I must bear, while the cruel scourge I fear,
In the lands of Virginia-ginia O;
And I think on friends most dear with the bitter, bitter tear,
And Alas! I am weary, weary O!
And I think, &c.
Our poet knew that earth was perhaps all the paradise that we shall ever know, and the argument of his days was aimed at restoring the sovereignty of decency and fairness. It was not an ideology or a party, a faction or a government that authored a ‘Marseillaise’ to the human spirit, but Robert Burns, a farmer’s son, who died at 37 with a deep conception of what it means to be alive. His greatest poem is not a farewell to the lasses, the drinks, the immortals or the politics, but a rousing welcome to what is best in each of us, for a’ that, as we live and breathe. When the night is over and we make our way home, when the morning is clear and the sky is busy with birds and their songs, we will know our place in the world by the size of our faith in fellowship. It is this conviction which makes Burns the world’s greatest and most loveable poet.
A Man’s a Man for A’ That
Is there, for honest Poverty
That hings his head, and a’ that;
The coward-slave, we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a’ that!
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Our toils obscure, and a’ that,
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
The Man’s the gowd for a’ that.—
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, and a’ that.
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine,
A Man’s a Man for a’ that.
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their tinsel show, and a’ that;
The honest man, though e’er sae poor,
Is king o’ men for a’ that.—
Ye see yon birkie ca’d a lord,
Wha struts, and stares, and a’ that,
Though hundreds worship at his word,
He’s but a coof for a’ that.
For a’ that, and a’ that,
His ribband, star and a’ that,
The man of independent mind,
He looks and laughs at a’ that.—
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, and a’ that;
But an honest man’s aboon his might,
Gude faith he mauna fa’ that!
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their dignities, and a’ that,
The pith o’ Sense, and pride o’ Worth,
Are higher rank than a’ that.—
Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a’ that,
That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth
Shall bear the gree, and a’ that.
For a’ that, and a’ that,
It’s comin yet for a’ that,
That Man to Man the warld o’er,
Shall brothers be for a’ that.—
Glossary
A
aft often
agley wrong
aiblins perhaps
aidle ditch water
airn iron
airt direction
aits oats
aizle ember
aqua-fontis spring water
aquavitae whisky
ase ashes
asklent askew
asteer abroad
auldfarran sagacious, shrewd
aumous alms
ava at all
awnie bearded
ayont past
B
bair clear
bairn child
bakes biscuits
barley-bree whisky
batts colic
bauk cross-beam; bauk-en’ end of a cross-beam
baws’nt brindled
bear barley
bear the gree come off best
benmost furthest in
bestead placed
bicker wooden drinking vessel
bicker stagger; rush
bide endure
bield shelter
bienly comfortably
big build
bill bull
billie fellow
birk birch
birkie lively fellow
bizz flurry
blastet cursed; blastie nasty creature
blate bashful
blather bladder
bleeze blaze
blellum blusterer
blether talk foolishly
blink look fondly
blinker spy, cheat
blype layer
boddle copper coin
boortree elder
bore crevice
botch tumour
bow-kail cabbage
branks halter, bridle
brash sudden illness
brats rags
brattle hurry
braw handsome; brawlie admirably
bree whisky
brock badger
brogue trick
brunstane brimstone
budget leather bag
buirdly stalwart
bum hum; bum-clock humming beetle
burn stream
burnewin blacksmith
butt and ben everywhere
byke hive; crowd
C
ca’d hammered
cadger travelling hawker
cadie rascal
caff chaff
caird tinker
calces powders
calf-ward churchyard
callet wench
callor
fresh
cannie pleasant
cantie, canty cheerful, lively
cantraip magic
carlin witch; old fellow
cattle beasts
cavie coop
change-house ale-house
chap stroke
chapman pedlar
cheek-for-chow cheek by jowl
cheeks side-pieces
chiel fellow
chuck sweetheart
chuffie portly, fat faced
clachan village
clash gossip
clatter chatter, gossip
claw scratching
cleek link hands in a dance; steal; claught clutched
clew, clue ball of yarn
clink sit down smartly
cloot hoof; Cloots the devil
clout cloth; patch
coff buy
cog wooden drinking vessel
coof lout, fool
cook dart in and out of sight
coost looped
cootie tub
core band of dancers; party
cot cottage; cotter cottager, tenant farmer
cour fold
court-day rent-day
couthie loving
cowe scold, berate
cowp fell over
crack gossip, story
craigie throat
crank harsh sound
cranreuch hoar-frost
creeshie greasy, filthy
croose, crouse cocksure, merry
crouchie hump-backed
crowdie-time breakfast time
crummock short staff with a crooked head
crump baked dry
curmurring rumbling
curpan backside
custock kale-stalk
cutty short
D
daffin flirtation, fooling
dail plank
daimem-icker occasional ear of corn
damn’d haet damn all
daut pet, make much of; dawtit spoiled
dawd hunk
deil-haet nothing; deil-mak matter no matter
delver gardener, labourer
dight wipe dry; winnow
ding overcome
dint occasion
dirk, durk short Highland dagger
dirl shake
dizzen work amounting to a day’s spinning
doited enfeebled; doytan blundering
donsie hapless
dorty haughty
douce, douse sedate
douk duck
dow be able
doylt muddled
driddle dawdle
droddum backside
drouth thirst
drumlie cloudy; gloomy
drunt sulks
dub stagnant pool, puddle
dud (d) ies, duds clothes; duddie ragged
dung in beaten into
E
eldritch uncanny, frightful
Erse Gaelic
ettle purpose
F
fa’ befall
fain glad; fain o’ ither fond of each other
fairin deserts
faith ye confound ye
fash trouble; fash your thumb pay heed
fatt’rels ribbon ends
fawsont respectable
feat trim
feck most
fell powerful
Ferintosh a brand of whisky, exempted from duty in reparation for the damage done to the estates of Forbes of Culloden, the distillery’s owner, by the Jacobites in 1689. The loss of the exemption in 1785 drove up the price of whisky.
ferlie wonder
fidge shrug; fidge fu’ fain twitch with excitement
fient haet nothing
fiere companion
fit (t) foot
fley terrify
foggage rank grass, winter grazing
forbye besides
fou, fu’ drunk; very
foughten harassed, worn out
freak fancy
free clear
fud backside
fuff puff
funny merry
furr furrow
fyke commotion
G
gab mouth
gaets habits
gangrel tramp
gar make, cause
gash chat; neat; shrewd
gate way
gausy, gawsie fine; plump
gear possessions, property
gentles gentry
Geordie guinea
gilpey young girl
gimmer-pet yearling ewe kept as a pet
gin before
girdle griddle
gizz wig
glaikit foolish
gloaming twilight
glowr gaze intently
glunch scowl
gowan daisy
gowd gold
graip garden fork
graith ploughing gear; habit
greet cry
grozet gooseberry
grumphie sow
gruntle nose; grunt
grushie thriving
gude-willie-waught generous draught
gully large knife
gusty tasty
gutscraper fiddler
H
ha’ folk servants
haffet temple
hafflins-wise nearly
hairst harvest
hald refuge
han’-daurk manual labour
harn coarse linen
hash waster
haugh level, fertile land by a river
haurl drag; peel
havins good manners
hav’rel half-wit
hawkie cow with a white face
hecht promise
herd herd-boy
heugh pit
hilch limp
hirple limp; move unevenly
hizzie whore; silly girl
hoast cough
hoddan bumping up and down in the saddle
hoddin coarse grey homespun cloth
Hornie the devil
houghmagandie sex
houlet owl (et)
hove make swell
howck dig up
howdie midwife
howe hollow
hoy’t urged on
huff scold
hum take in
hurchin urchin
hurdies haunches
I
ilka each, every
J
jad woman; hussy
jaukin delay
jink dodge
jo sweetheart
jocteleg clasp-knife
jow toll
K
kae thief
kail-runt stalk of the kail plant
kane payment in kind
kebar rafter
kebbuck homemade cheese
keek peek
kennin little
kings’-hood paunch
kintra country
kirn merrymaking at the end of harvest; churn
kittle tune up, play; rouse
kiutle fondle, cuddle
kye cows
kythe make known
L
lane lonely; her lane by herself; thy-lane by yourself
lave rest
lav’rock lark
lay, lea pasture
leal loyal
lear learning
lee lang whole
leeze me a blessing on
leister trident
lift sky
limmer mistress
link skip
list enlist
loan milking place
loot let out
lowe rage, blaze
lowp leap; lap leapt; lap the
hool jumped out of her chest
lugget caup shallow wooden dish with handles; luggie wooden dish
lunt puff of smoke; steam
lyart streaked red and white;
grey
M
; Mahoun the devil
mailin smallholding, tenant farm
man of Uzz Job
Mar’s-year 1715, when the Earl of Mar led the Jacobite revolt
mashlum mixed meal
meikle, muckle great; meikle corn oats
melder an occasion when a customer’s corn was taken to be ground at the mill
mell have dealings with
melvie soil
men’ repent
menseless boorish
messan lap-dog; cur
midden-hole hole in a dung heap
mim demure
mirk dark
mischanter mishap
mislear’d mischievous
mite-horn horn on the harvest-bug modewurk mole
moop nibble
muscle mussel
N
nappy ale
nieve fist
niffer comparison
noddle head
norland northern
O
o’ boot as well
orra spare
outler quey young cow lying out at night
P
pack intimate
pang stuff
party-match card competition
pattle, pettle spade used to clean the plough
peghan stomach
penny-wheep small beer
philibeg kilt
pictur’d beuks playing cards
plack small coin; plackless penniless
plaidie tartan cloak
pliskie trick
pliver green plover
plumpet sank
pock bag
poortith poverty
pou, pow, pu pull
press cupboard
prie her mou’ kiss her
pussie hare
pyke pick at
pyle grain
Q