To Terraughty, on His Birthday
written in 1791
To Terraughty, on His Birthday - context Summary
1791 Birthday Poem
Composed in 1791 for a friend named Terraughty on his birthday, this short poem is a convivial, humorous toast that mixes sincere blessings with comic exaggeration. Burns celebrates the friend’s long life and predicts further longevity, teases envious rivals with hyperbolic misfortune, and offers wishes of good fortune for friends and loved ones. The tone is intimate and colloquial, using Scots diction and familiar invocations to convey affection. It closes with a warm pledge of friendship and loyalty, framed as a public salute from the poet himself.
Read Complete AnalysesHealth to the Maxwel's veteran Chief! Health, ay unsour'd by care or grief: Inspir'd, I turn'd Fate's sibil leaf, This natal morn, I see thy life is stuff o' prief, Scarce quite half-worn. This day thou metes threescore eleven, And I can tell that bounteous Heaven (The second-sight, ye ken, is given To ilka Poet) On thee a tack o' seven times seven Will yet bestow it. If envious buckies view wi' sorrow Thy lengthen'd days on this blest morrow, May Desolation's lang-teeth'd harrow, Nine miles an hour, Rake them like Sodom and Gomorrah, In brunstane stoure. But for thy friends, and they are mony, Baith honest men, and lassies bony, May couthie Fortune, kind and cany, In social glee, Wi' mornings blythe, and e'enings funny, Bless them and thee: Fareweel, auld birkie! Lord be near ye, And then the deil he daur na steer ye: Your friends ay love, your faes ay fear ye! For me, Shame fa' me, If neist my heart I dinna wear ye, While Burns they ca' me.
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