* THE HINT O’ HAIRST *

O for a day at the Hint o’ Hairst,

With the craps weel in an’ stackit,

When the farmer steps thro’ the corn-yard,

An’ counts a’ the rucks he's thackit:

When the smith stirs up his fire again,

To sharpen the ploughman's coulter;

When the miller sets a new picked stane,

An’ dreams o’ a muckle moulter:

When cottars’ kail get a touch o’ frost,

That male's them but taste the better;

An’ thro’ the neeps strides the leggined laird,

Wi’‘ s gun an’ a draggled setter:

When the forester wi’ axe an’ keel

Is markin’ the wind-blawn timmer,

An’ there‘ s truffs aneuch at the barn gale

To reist a’ the fires till simmer.

Syne O for a nicht, ae lang forenicht,

Ower the dambrod spent or cairtin’,

Or keepin’ tryst wi’ a neebour's lass — -

An’ a mou’ held up at pairtin’.