Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Oh, to see ourselves as others see us!

Before you scream and run away, this poem is best read out loud exactly as it is written. So find a nice cozy spot and clear your throat and give it a whirl (make sure no one is around first, or they may think you're a bit nuts...). A link to the direct translation is at the end, but try reading it first. This poem was written by Robbie Burns after noticing a louse crawling on a lady's bonnet in church.

To A Louse

Ha! Whare ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie?
Your impudence protects you sairly,
I canna say but ye strut rarely
Owre gauze and lace,
Tho' faith! I fear ye dine but sparely
On sic a place.

Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,
Detested, shunn'd by saunt an' sinner,
How daur ye set your fit upon her --
Sae fine a lady!
Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner
On some poor body.

Swith! in some beggar's hauffet squattle:
There you may creep, and sprawl, and spr
Wi' ither kindred, jumping cattle,
In shoals and nations;
Whare horn nor bane ne'er daur unsettle
Your thick plantations.

Now haud you there! ye're out o' sight,
Below the fatt'rils, snug an' tight;
Na, faith ye yet! ye'll no be right,
Till ye've got on it ---
The vera tapmost, tow'ring height
O' miss's bonnet.

My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose ou
As plump an' grey as onie grozet:
O for some rank, mercurial rozet,
Or fell, red smeddum,
I'd gie ye sic a hearty dose o't,
Wad dress your droddum!

I wad na been surpris'd to spy
You on an auld wife's flainen toy:
Or aiblins some bit duddie boy,
On's wyliecoat;
But Miss's fine Lunardi! fye!
How daur ye do't.

O Jenny, dinna toss your head,
An' set your beauties a' abread!
You little ken what cursed speed
The blastie's makin!
Thae winks an' finger-ends, I dread,
Are notice takin'!

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion:
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,
An' ev'n devotion!

                             Robert Burns


I love this poem. It is hilarious. I love how Burns addresses the louse, and just makes the whole situation so grotesquely vivid to the reader. But what I love most is the last stanza: “Oh, would some power the gift to give us, to see ourselves as others see us. It would from many a blunder free us, and foolish notion”. Truer words were never spoken. I like to think that I know fairly well how others see me, but I find that I am often wrong. Sometimes that's a good thing, but more often not. Also, if I knew how others saw me, I would most certainly, like the poem speculates, make far fewer mistakes than I do.

What did you think of the poem? Fun to read out loud? What did you like about it?  

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