"Bobby Burns" by Rev. Joseph C. Booth (1914)

Bobby Burns.

BY (REV.) JOSEPH C. BOOTH.

True bard of nature, pride of bonny Ayr;

Loved literary idol of the far-

Famed North, fair Caledonia; thy star

'Midst Gaelic constellations none compare,

The fires of Wallace, Bruce and Knox did e'er

Within thy bosom blaze; love did unbar

Thy soul, thy heart set singing songs of war,

Peace, sadness, joy and mirth—thou debonair!

Thou wouldst have rivaled Shakespeare, Milton, Gray;

White, Chatterton and Keats surpassed, but fate

Forbade and checked thy muse-lit tongue of flame.

Poor Bobby Burns, hard was his lot, though gay—

In life, cold poverty, the bard's estate;

In death, the glory of immortal fame.

        Melrose, N.Y.

Troy Times. January 26, 1914: 7 col 1.