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To A Haggis
(Translation by Michael Nellis)
(In many cases the only changes were to spelling and contractions. In the case
where comtemporary wordage replaced original wordage, the meaning of the word
replaced was taken from the glossary in the back of the book from which the
original work was extracted.
This volume is: _Burns' Poems*_, from a series called _The Home Library_
published by A. L. Burt, New York. This book has neither an ISBN, a printing
history, or a copyright notice [due to the last of which it is assumed the
printing predates copyright law].
In the cases of those words not found in the glossary but found in the
dictionary, I might have opted to change those words due to their largely having
fallen into desuetude.)
Bless [1] your honest, handsome [2] face,
Great chieftain of the pudding-race!
Above them all you take your place,
Paunch, tripe, or fiddlestring, [3]
Well are you worthy of a grace
As long as I can sing. [4]
The groaning platter [5] there you fill,
Your hips [6] are like a distant hill,
Your pan would help to mend a milll
In time of need,
While through your pores the dews distill
Like amber bead.
See the farmer [7] burden [8] send a-flight [9]
And cut you up with ready sleight [10]
Slicing your gushing entrails bright
Like any ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reeking rich!
Then spoon for spoon [11] they stretch and strive,
De'il take the hindmost, on they drive,
Till all their well-filled [12] bellies[13] blithe [14]
Are bent like drums;
Then old goodman, most like to cleft, [15]
Thanksgiving [16] hums.
Is there one that over his French wines, [17]
Or pot luck [18] that is fit for swines, [19]
Or a fricassee that would make them writhe [20]
With perfect dudgeon, [21]
Who'd look down with sneering, scornful view
On such a dinner!
Poor devil! See him over his trash,
As ineffectual [22] as a withered rush, [23]
His scrawny [24] leg [25] a good whip-lash,
His fist [26] a peach pit: [27]
Though bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!
But a country lad [28] who's haggis-fed;
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his massive [29] fist a blade,
He'll make it whistle;
And legs, and arms, and heads will rend, [30]
Like tops of thistles.
You Powers who make mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill of fare,
Old Scotland wants no stinking ware
That slops [31] in dishes; [32]
But if you want her gratefull prayer,
Give her a haggis.
ITO: = In The Original.
[1] ITO: Fair fa'; a benediction.
[2] ITO: Sonsie; jolly, comely
[3] ITO: Painch, tripe, or thairm; paunch, tripe or fiddlestrings.
Burns seems to be saying that to what ever use the stomach is
put, be it a paunch, a pudding, or to make fiddlestrings, it is
deserving of the highest respect regardless.
[4] ITO: As long as my arm; and this one is definitely long enough.
[5] ITO: Trencher; a platter
[6] ITO: Hurdies; hips
[7] ITO: Rustic; in the dictionary, 1 : an inhabitant of a
rural are 2 a : an awkward coarse person b : an unsophistcated
rural person. I had some difficulty interpreting this line due
to the poetic flight in which Burns seemed to engage. I finally
decided to rewrite it somewhat to make it fit the meter and to
eliminate that portion I couldn't fully understand. In the
process, I seem to have changed the focus of the stanza from the
knife to the farmer. (See note number 9.)
[8] ITO: Labor; in the dictionary, 1labor _n_ 2 : an act
or process requiring labour : TASK ; 2labor _adj_ 3 : burden,
distress. I elected to go with burden as it could be interpreted
to mean either the work of farming, or the problems and cares of
farming.
[9] ITO: Dight; cleaned from chaff; to wipe away. This word caused
the greatest difficulty in this line. I am still uncertain as to
which meaning Burns intended for the line as a whole. Obviously,
I chose to write the line to mean that the farmer is setting
aside his cares in anticipation of enjoying the haggis. Burns
might have meant this, however, the line could also be that the
knife sees the coarse work-product which was cleaned from chaff,
the filling of the haggis being a mixture of grains, and it would
be the knife which would be causually slicing open the stomach.
(See note number 10.)
[10] ITO: Slight; in the dictionary; 2slight _vt_ 2 : to treat with
disdain or indifference. Sleight; _n_ 2 : DEXTERITY; SKILL. I
chose to make this minute change to keep with the change in focus
in the first line of this stanza.
[11] ITO: Horn; a spoon made of horn, a comb made of horn
[12] ITO: Weel-swall'ed; well-swelled.
[13] ITO: Kytes; bellies.
[14] ITO: Belyve; by and by.
[15] ITO: Rive; to split.
[16] ITO: Bethankit; the grace after meal.
[17] ITO: Ragout; French for stew
[18] ITO: Olio; in the dictionary, 2 a : a miscellaneous mixture :
HODGEPODGE.
[19] ITO: Staw a sow; Staw, to steal; by which I take this line to
mean that the food of the philistine alluded to is something that
might be used to entice a pig so that it might be stolen more
easily.
[20] ITO: Spew; in the dictionary, to vomit.
[21] ITO: Sconner, loathing; dudgeon; 2dudgeon _n_ (origin unknown : a
fit or state of angry indignation usu. provoked by opposition.
[22] In the dictionary; Feckless _adj_ 1 : INEFFECTUAL, WEAK 2 :
WORTHLESS, IRRESPONSIBLE.
[23] ITO: Rash; rush.
[24] In the dictionary; spindle; generally, a thin rod.
[25] ITO: Shank; leg and foot.
[26] ITO: Neive; fist.
[27] ITO: Nit; nut.
[28] ITO: Rustic; in the dictionary, a rural person, in this context.
[29] ITO: Walie; ample.
[30] ITO: Sned; to lop, to cut.
[31] ITO: Jaups; splashes.
[32] ITO: Luggies; small wooden dishes with handles.
Copyright Michael Nellis 1996
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