To a Louse
Robert Burns · 1786 · 48 lines
“O wad some Power the giftie gie us”
Printed in older editions as To A Louse, On Seeing One On A Lady’s Bonnet, At Church.
Burns sits in church behind a well-dressed woman and watches a louse climb her bonnet. Forty-eight lines of delighted mock outrage at the insect for not knowing its place, and then the last stanza, which everyone quotes and which is aimed squarely at the reader: if we could see ourselves as others see us, it would cure a great deal.
Ha! whaur ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie?
Your impudence protects you sairly;
I canna say but ye strunt rarely,
Owre gauze and lace;
Tho’, faith! I fear ye dine but sparely
On sic a place.
Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,
Detested, shunn’d by saunt an’ sinner,
How daur ye set your fit upon her—
Sae fine a lady?
Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner
On some poor body.
Swith! in some beggar’s haffet squattle;
There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle,
Wi’ ither kindred, jumping cattle,
In shoals and nations;
Whaur horn nor bane ne’er daur unsettle
Your thick plantations.
Now haud you there, ye’re out o’ sight,
Below the fatt’rels, snug and tight;
Na, faith ye yet! ye’ll no be right,
Till ye’ve got on it—
The verra tapmost, tow’rin height
O’ Miss’ bonnet.
My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out,
As plump an’ grey as ony groset:
O for some rank, mercurial rozet,
Or fell, red smeddum,
I’d gie you sic a hearty dose o’t,
Wad dress your droddum.
I wad na been surpris’d to spy
You on an auld wife’s flainen toy;
Or aiblins some bit dubbie boy,
On’s wyliecoat;
But Miss’ fine Lunardi! fye!
How daur ye do’t?
O Jeany, dinna toss your head,
An’ set your beauties a’ abread!
Ye little ken what cursed speed
The blastie’s makin:
Thae winks an’ finger-ends, I dread,
Are notice takin.
O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An’ foolish notion:
What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,
An’ ev’n devotion!
The Scots in this one
49 words, from the glossary Burns's own editions carried. On a wide screen these also sit in the margin beside the line they belong to; on a small one, tap any dotted word.
- whaur
- where
- gaun
- going
- crowlin
- crawling
- ferlie
- ferly, a wonder
- canna
- can not
- strunt
- to strut, to swagger
- owre
- over, too
- sic
- such
- wonner
- a wonder
- saunt
- saint
- an'
- and
- daur
- dare
- fit
- foot
- sae
- so
- gae
- gave
- body
- bodie, a person
- swith
- haste; off and away
- haffet
- hauffet, the temple, the side of the head
- squattle
- to squat; to settle
- sprattle
- scramble
- wi'
- with
- ither
- other, another
- horn
- a horn spoon; a comb of horn
- bane
- bone
- haud
- to hold, to keep
- o'
- of
- na
- nae, no, not
- till
- to, until
- tapmost
- topmost
- bauld
- bold
- rozet
- resin
- fell
- keen, biting, cruel
- smeddum
- a powder
- gie
- to give
- o't
- of it
- wad
- would
- droddum
- the breech
- auld
- old
- aiblins
- perhaps
- bit
- small (e.g., bit lassie)
- wyliecoat
- undervest
- lunardi
- a balloon bonnet
- dinna
- do not
- a'
- all
- abread
- abroad
- ken
- to know
- thae
- those
- giftie
- dim. of gift
- frae
- from