To Miss Ferrier

  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!