Verses to Miss Cruickshank
Beauteous Rosebud, young and gay,
Blooming in thy early May,
Never mayst thou, lovely flower,
Chilly shrink in sleety shower!
Never Boreas hoary path,
Never Eurus poisnous breath,
Never baleful stellar lights,
Taint thee with untimely blights!
Never, never reptile thief
Riot on thy virgin leaf!
Nor even Sol too fiercely view
Thy bosom blushing still with dew!
Mayst thou long, sweet crimson gem,
Richly deck thy native stem;
Till some evning, sober, calm,
Dropping dews, and breathing balm,
While all around the woodland rings,
And evry bird thy requiem sings;
Thou, amid the dirgeful sound,
Shed thy dying honours round,
And resign to parent Earth
The loveliest form she eer gave birth.
Poems by Robert Burns
