Happy Birthday Rabbie Burns, you prescient human being!

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (38 of them)
I imagine the problem with the second poem is that most people can't understand it

Dadaismugness (Dada), Tuesday, 25 January 2005 14:48 (nineteen years ago) link

Well, somebody understood it enough to write a play about it.

aimurchie, Tuesday, 25 January 2005 14:54 (nineteen years ago) link

I think these poems are pertinent to our world. I'm sure i could dig up many texts that give words of wisdom to this modern world - however, it is Robert Burns birthday, and since he was a poet of the people HE shall be the one who speaks today.
Maybe we should have a thread for this? A "Poet Speaks" thread?
I thought that other people would feel moved by his words. To me, it's terrifying. Everything he says is happening now.
On a lighter note, "To A Mouse" has great resonance for me. I worked as a landscaper, and basically mowed a lot of lawns. I was mowing away one day, and interrupted the life of a mouse. The mouse ran in circles - I think the noise of the machine confused it - and I stood there, watching the mouse, feeling awful BUT knowing I had to mow the lawn. And all i could think of was "Wee slicket, cowering timorous beastie. oh what a panics in thy breastie..."
We both lived, that day. I will never forget that mouse.
I'm sure the mouse does not remember me.

aimurchie, Tuesday, 25 January 2005 15:47 (nineteen years ago) link

I will be toasting Mr. Burns this evening, so I'm with you aimurchie!

When I was a wee lad, I got a calligraphy set as a Christmas gift which I quite liked. I got pretty good at it, and my dad asked if I would write out "To A Mouse" for him. I did a pretty good job, and he had it framed. He still has it on a wall in his basement.

Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Tuesday, 25 January 2005 16:11 (nineteen years ago) link

"To a Louse" is even better

Dadaismugness (Dada), Tuesday, 25 January 2005 16:12 (nineteen years ago) link

That makes me cry. Seriously. That is so beautiful and touching. With all of the bad things in the world, it's nice to know a boy can please his dad and that the pleasure became pride.
Have fun tonight. Eat some haggis for me. Drink lots of whiskey as well.

aimurchie, Tuesday, 25 January 2005 16:28 (nineteen years ago) link

... oops, drink lots of WHISKY not whiskey!

Dadaismugness (Dada), Tuesday, 25 January 2005 16:32 (nineteen years ago) link

He was a pretty fair songwriter too:


Green grow the rashes, O;
Green grow the rashes, O;
The sweetest hours that e'er I spend,
Are spent amang the lasses, O.

There's nought but care on ev'ry han',
In ev'ry hour that passes, O;
What signifies the life o' man,
An' 'twere na for the lasses, O.
Green grow, etc

The warly race may riches chase,
An' riches still may fly them, O;
An' tho' at last they catch them fast,
Their hearts can ne'er enjoy them, O.
Green grow, etc

But gie me a canny hour at e'en,
My arms about my Dearie, O;
An' warly cares an' warly men,
May a' gae tapsalteerie, O!
Green grow, etc

For you sae douse, ye sneer at this,
Ye're nought but senseless asses, O;
The wisest Man the warl' saw,
He dearly lov'd the lasses, O.
Green grow, etc

Auld Nature swears, the lovely Dears
Her noblest work she classes, O;
Her prentice han' she try'd on man,
An' then she made the lasses, O.
Green grow, etc

everything, Tuesday, 25 January 2005 16:57 (nineteen years ago) link

"tapsalteerie, o."
Even I, a Burns wannabe, cannot fathom this. BUT I think it should become part of the ILExicon.

aimurchie, Tuesday, 25 January 2005 17:18 (nineteen years ago) link

... and by the way, non-Scottish people, it's Auld Lang Syne NOT Auld Lang Zyne.

Rabbieismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 January 2005 19:27 (nineteen years ago) link

WTF. Everyone can get emotional about Johnny Carson, but Robert Burns is met with sarcasm.

Well, Johnny Carson did just die, and he played a role in people's lives. Burns died a long time ago and for most people has played a much smaller role. Therefore he's treated less with the emotional respect that you treat the dearly departed, but rather with the playfulness that most subjects are treated to here.

Nothing against Mr. Burns.

Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 00:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Well It is Mr Burns Birthday, and maybe we can all just try to get along.
When Johnny Carsons birthday comes along I promise to honor him.

aimurchie, Wednesday, 26 January 2005 00:33 (nineteen years ago) link

Naturally "tapsalteerie" means topsy-turvy. I mean, what happens to YOUR warly cares when your put your arms aboot your dearie-o in the e'en?

everything, Wednesday, 26 January 2005 20:12 (nineteen years ago) link

I had me some haggis today.
So good.

Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 20:52 (nineteen years ago) link

eleven years pass...

Burns Night, is it anything more than an excuse for a bunch of bourgeois blowhards to gather together in an attempt to prove themselves more Scottish than you are? Meanwhile, here's the real deal...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ7oYCx6tBw

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Wednesday, 25 January 2017 18:17 (seven years ago) link

three years pass...

Burns Night, is it anything more than an excuse for a bunch of bourgeois blowhards to gather together in an attempt to prove themselves more Scottish than you are?

I think not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixbmlwFR2BM

Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Saturday, 25 January 2020 11:00 (four years ago) link

I'm in a Wetherspoons in Wood Green which is enjoining us to Celebrate Burns' Week. By the way, Wood Green what a fucking lifeless dump of a place.

Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Sunday, 26 January 2020 16:48 (four years ago) link

great revives

chapoquidditch (bizarro gazzara), Sunday, 26 January 2020 16:53 (four years ago) link

And Wetherspoons, so many sad lost men sitting on their own. I'm not lost, btw, hop on the 29 and I'm home.

Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Sunday, 26 January 2020 16:57 (four years ago) link

I'd guess they are more concerned with drinking themselves to oblivion than some Burns themed neeps n tatties meal deal.

calzino, Sunday, 26 January 2020 17:06 (four years ago) link

Add haggis to any meal or breakfast (248 kcal) £1.00

Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Sunday, 26 January 2020 17:09 (four years ago) link

eleven months pass...

Very aptly it's also John Cooper Clarke's birthday today!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaQCrleQrZ4

Waterloo Subset (Tom D.), Monday, 25 January 2021 13:23 (three years ago) link

two years pass...

It was a favourite song of mum's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5gesVr9qrk

Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Wednesday, 25 January 2023 18:35 (one year ago) link

one year passes...

It's January 25th again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB9NO8AFN1g

Bulky Pee Pants (Tom D.), Thursday, 25 January 2024 10:54 (three months ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.