II.

LUCKLESS FORTUNE.

[Those lines, as Burns informs us, were written to a tune of his own composing, consisting of three parts, and the words were the echo of the air.]

O raging fortune's withering blast Has laid my leaf full low, O! O raging fortune's withering blast Has laid my leaf full low, O! My stem was fair, my bud was green, My blossom sweet did blow, O; The dew fell fresh, the sun rose mild, And made my branches grow, O. But luckless fortune's northern storms Laid a' my blossoms low, O; But luckless fortune's northern storms Laid a' my blossoms low, O.

* * * * *

I DREAM'D I LAY.

[These melancholy verses were written when the poet was some seventeen years old: his early days were typical of his latter.]