Robert Burns (1759–1796). Poems and Songs.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
311 . On the Birth of a Posthumous Child
S
And ward o’ mony a prayer,
What heart o’ stane wad thou na move,
Sae helpless, sweet, and fair?
Chill, on thy lovely form: And gane, alas! the shelt’ring tree, Should shield thee frae the storm. And wings the blast to blaw, Protect thee frae the driving show’r, The bitter frost and snaw. Who heals life’s various stounds, Protect and guard the mother plant, And heal her cruel wounds. Fair in the summer morn, Now feebly bends she in the blast, Unshelter’d and forlorn. Unscath’d by ruffian hand! And from thee many a parent stem Arise to deck our land!