[Page 234]

A BARD'S EPITAPH.

1 IS there a whim-inspir'd fool,
2 Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule,
3 Owre blate to seek, owre proud to snool,
4 Let him draw near;
5 And o'er this grassy heap sing dool,
6 And drap a tear.
7 Is there a Bard of rustic song,
8 Who, noteless, steals the crouds among,
9 That weekly this area throng,
10 O, pass not by!
11 But with a frater-feeling strong,
12 Here, heave a sigh.
13 Is there a man whose judgment clear,
14 Can others teach the course to steer,
15 Yet runs, himself, life's mad career,
16 Wild as the wave,
[Page 235]
17 Here pause and thro' the starting tear,
18 Survey this grave.
19 The poor Inhabitant below
20 Was quick to learn and wise to know,
21 And keenly felt the friendly glow,
22 And softer flame;
23 But thoughtless follies laid him low,
24 And stain'd his name!
25 Reader attend whether thy soul
26 Soars fancy's flights beyond the pole,
27 Or darkling grubs this earthly hole,
28 In low pursuit,
29 Know, prudent, cautious, self-controul
30 Is Wisdom's root.

Text

  • TEI/XML [chunk] (XML - 50K / ZIP - 5.8K) / ECPA schema (RNC - 357K / ZIP - 73K)
  • Plain text [excluding paratexts] (TXT - 966 / ZIP - 735 )

Facsimile (Source Edition)

(Page images digitized by National Library of Scotland.)

Images

PDF

All Images (PDF - 1.0M)

About this text

Title (in Source Edition): A BARD'S EPITAPH.
Author: Robert Burns
Themes:
Genres: epitaph

Text view / Document view

Source edition

Burns, Robert, 1759-1796. POEMS, CHIEFLY IN THE SCOTTISH DIALECT, BY ROBERT BURNS. Kilmarnock: printed by John Wilson, M,DCC,LXXXVI., 1786, pp. 234-235. 240p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T91548) (Page images digitized by National Library of Scotland.)

Editorial principles

Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Robert Burns