Robert Burns (1759-1796)
To a Mouse
On Turning Up Her Nest with the Plough, November, 1785
1Wee, sleeket, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
2Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie!
3Thou need na start awa sae hasty
5I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee
7I'm truly sorry man's dominion
8Has broken Nature's social union,
9An' justifies that ill opinion
10 Which makes thee startle
11At me, thy poor earth-born companion,
12 An' fellow-mortal!
13I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve:
14What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
15A daimen icker in a thrave
16 'S a sma' request;
17I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,
18 An' never miss 't!
19Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!
20Its silly wa's the win's are strewin!
21An' naething, now, to big a new ane,
23An' bleak December's winds ensuin
25Thou saw the fields laid bare an' wast,
26An' weary winter comin fast,
27An' cozie here beneath the blast
28 Thou thought to dwell,
29Till crash! the cruel coulter past
30 Out thro' thy cell.
31That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble
32Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
33Now thou's turn'd out for a' thy trouble,
35To thole the winter's sleety dribble
37But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane
38In proving foresight may be vain:
39The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
41An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain
42 For promis'd joy.
43Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me!
44The present only toucheth thee:
45But, och! I backward cast my e'e
46 On prospects drear!
47An' forward, tho' I canna see,
48 I guess an' fear!
Notes
1] Burns's brother Gilbert is responsible for the story that the poem was composed while the poet was ploughing, after he had turned up a mouse's nest and had saved the mouse from the spade of the boy who was holding the horses.
sleekit: sleek.
4] bickerin brattle: hurrying scamper.
5] laith: loth.
6] pattle: a small long-handled spade for removing clay from the ploughshare.
13] whyles: sometimes.
14] mawn: must.
15] daimen: occasional.
icker: ear of corn.
a thrave: twenty-four sheaves.
17] lave: rest.
20] silly: feeble.
21] big: build.
22] foggage: coarse grass.
24] snell: piercing.
34] But: without.
house or hald: house or habitation; cf. Address to the Deil, 104.
35] thole: endure.
36] cranreuch: hoar-frost.
37] no thy lane: not alone.
40] a-gley: amiss.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Robert Burns, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Kilmarnock, 1786). PR 4300 1786a K5a SMR. (Edinburgh, 1797). B-10 0051 Fisher Rare Book Library (Toronto).
First publication date:
1786
RPO poem editor: G. G. Falle
RP edition: 3RP 2.311.
Recent editing: 4:2002/3/19
Composition date:
1785
Rhyme: aaabab
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