to miss ferrier
enclosing the elegy on sir j. h. blair.
nae heathen name shall i prefix,
frae pindus or parnassus;
auld reekie dings them a' to sticks,
for rhyme-inspiring lasses.
jove's tunefu' dochters three times three
made homer deep their debtor;
but, gien the body half an e'e,
nine ferriers wad done better!
last day my mind was in a bog,
down george's street i stoited;
a creeping cauld prosaic fog
my very sense doited.
do what i dought to set her free,
my saul lay in the mire;
ye turned a neuk—i saw your e'e—
she took the wing like fire!
the mournfu' sang i here enclose,
in gratitude i send you,
and pray, in rhyme as weel as prose,
a' gude things may attend you!