Robert Burns (1759–1796). Poems and Songs.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
450 . Monody on a Lady, famed for her Caprice
H
How pale is that cheek where the rouge lately glisten’d;
How silent that tongue which the echoes oft tired,
How dull is that ear which to flatt’ry so listen’d!
From friendship and dearest affection remov’d;
How doubly severer, Maria, thy fate,
Thou diedst unwept, as thou livedst unlov’d.
So shy, grave, and distant, ye shed not a tear:
But come, all ye offspring of Folly so true,
And flowers let us cull for Maria’s cold bier.
We’ll roam thro’ the forest for each idle weed;
But chiefly the nettle, so typical, shower,
For none e’er approach’d her but rued the rash deed.
Here Vanity strums on her idiot lyre;
There keen Indignation shall dart on his prey,
Which spurning Contempt shall redeem from his ire.