ODE FOR THE BURNS CENTENARY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVIX, Issue 2875, 18 July 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

ODE FOR THE BURNS CENTENARY.

21rt July, 17aC.

[By John Liddell Kelly.] Wellington, New Zealand, July, 1890. CENTENARY OF THE DEATH OF ROBERT BURNS, (Written fov the New Zealand Mail.J I. ’Tis not with muffled drum or bated breath, Or solemn signs of woo, Wo call to memory the death That made a nation’s tears of sorrow How A hundred years agol For common loss, lot grief conventional Bo shown, and sadness ceremonial. Not ours tho common lot, To mourn a life extinguinhod and forgot. Waiting in mouldy vault the trump of doom I Wo meet around Iho Poet’s tomb, ]n glowing exultation And glad congratulation, Without a thought of gloom— Well knowing that his quenchless soul Spurning the grave’s control, Jle-livos in Fame’s now birth, While round his name on earth Has grown a century of glorious bloom. 11. We, viewing all the Poet’s rounded life, With clearer vision, wider ken, And Judgment chastened by the lapse of years, Behold no more bis ineffectual strife With fortune, or his feuds with baser men, His passions, follies, hopes or fears. Steady and cool, Time’s winnowing breath bus blown. Till all the chaff is gone (“King’s chaff” It was—bettor than most men’s grain I) Stripped of vain praise and censure vain, The Man before us stands, Naked and unashamed; Nay, looking down, in pity and in pride, On those who, clasping holy hands, Reviled and vilified, And, in their plenteous lack of justice, blamed I

nr. What Burns has done for Scotland What Scot can e'er forgot? The whole world owes to Scotland ■ And Burns a heavy debt. The Scottish lyre in dust and darkness hung; Unknown the power of Scotia's rugged tongue; Till Burns, with master’s hand and brain, Made from these weapons twain A trump to startle Tyranny; A charter for the bravo and free, A whip to scourge Hypocrisy; A naming torch To let the blinded nations see. A fire to scorch False creeds, mean all things base; A glow to light true Manhood’s face; A standard showing Bank its place And Worth its sway; A sword wherewith the human race Might carve its way hrough Error’s ranks to goals of highest good— Peace, Freedom, Justice, Love and Brotherhood. IV. Immortal Burns! Heart of flesh and soul of flame This day we celebrate Thy birth into the deathless state. The flesh is earthy, and returns To Earth, from whence It came; While, of all passion purged, the fiery splri Doth the dominion of the gods inherit. More blest by far than they Whose grosser being clings to earth and time— Tasting corruption day by day— Thou, in the Spirit's golden prime, Ere glamour of the earth-life passed away. Or youth’s strong ardour knew decay, Wert called unto that happier clime Where souls of god-liko mould. Suffer not, nor grow old, But live in one long dream—in ecstasy sublime I Old land! that holds his honoured dust, Well hast thou kept the sacred trust Committed to thy care— To guard his fame whose glowing dreams Made classic all his native streams— Nlfch, Boon and “winding Ayr." For long-past, cruel, cold neglect, Pierce penance has atoned; Ho sits a King, proud, laurcl-dccked. In Scottish hearts enthroned. ' In near land, or far land. Each Scot in rapture terns T’ acclaim still the name still Of glorious Robert Burns. VI. New land, where Scots in thousands dwell, Ztoalandial fail not thou to tell How much to him we owe— Those laws of broad humanity. Those purer customs, life more free That from his teachings flow. The spirit of bold, manly pride. In deathless lyriea breathed, To us, and all the world beside, He nobly has bequeathed. Nat toariul, nor fearful, Mankind each fetter spurns— All lightened and brightened Through triumphs won by Burns. VU. He died a hundred years ago! No! Nol He lives, ho breathes, ho rules us still With strong, imperious will; More truly lives than in that far-off time Of youthful strength, of manhood’s prime Of fiery love, of fiery hate. Depressing toll, pursuing Pate, Harsh judgment, foul malignancy, And still more harmful flattery. When his vexed spirit fell at last on peace In doleful, dark Dumfries, Then, only.then, began His new life’s nobler span. For him Death’s foot struck open Glory’s door, And not the grave’s dark portal; lumindsandheartsofmen—a force immortal— Ho lives for evermore!