THREE Scottish literary “Rabbies,” Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns, and Robert Louis Stevenson, will be celebrated tomorrow in Edinburgh. The public is welcome at the ceremony at the grave of Fergusson in the Canongate Kirk-yard (10.50 for 11am). There will be brief speeches about all three. Here are the opening verses of The Daft Days by Fergusson (1750-1774).
THE DAFT DAYS
Now mirk December’s dowie face
Glow’rs owre the rigs wi’ sour grimace,
While, thro’ his minimum o’ space
The bleer-e’ed sun,
Wi’ blinkin’ light and stealin’ pace
His race doth run.
Frae naked groves nae birdie sings;
To shepherd’s pipe nae hillock rings;
The breeze nae od’rous flavour brings
Frae Borean cave;
And dwynin’ Nature droops her wings,
Wi’ visage grave.
Mankind but scanty pleasure glean
Frae snawy hill or barren plain,
Whan Winter, ’midst his nippin’ train,
Wi’ frozen spear,
Sends drift owre a’ his bleak domain,
And guides the weir.
weir=war
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here