Poem by Robert Burns

Address to the Shade of Thomson, on Crowning His Bust at Ednam, Roxburgh-Shire, with Bays

WHILE virgin Spring, by Eden’s flood,  
  Unfolds her tender mantle green,
Or pranks the sod in frolic mood,
  Or tunes Eolian Strains between;

While Summer with a matron grace
  Retreats to Dryburgh’s cooling shade,
Yet oft, delighted, stops to trace
  The progress of the spiky blade;

While Autumn, benefactor kind,
  By Tweed erects his aged head,
And sees, with self-approving mind,
  Each creature on his bounty fed;

While maniac Winter rages o’er
  The hills whence classic Yarrow flows,
Rousing the turbid torrent’s roar,
  Or sweeping, wild, a waste of snows;

So long, sweet poet of the year,
  Shall bloom that wreath thou well hast won;
While Scotia, with exulting tear,
  Proclaims that Thomson was her son.

1. Their Groves O’ sweet Myrtle
2. The Bonnie Wee Thing
3. As Down the Burn They Took Their Way
4. The Humble Petition of Bruar Water
5. How Lang and Dreary

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