FRIENDS of St. Andrew and the Thistle,
Accept, I pray, this short epistle,
In answer to your invitation
To the Grand Ball and Cold Collation.
I wish you well as well may be;
Long may you live in harmony;
And every year in hot November
The Caledonian Saint remember!
Scotsmen! full well I ween ye may
Do worse than hold St. Andrew’s day!
But, Gentlemen, pray don’t refuse me
This one small favour – to excuse me
From dancing at your splendid ball;
For why – I cannot dance at all.
I am a plain, perhaps rude, man,
Tho’ a true Caledonian;
My boyhood spent in books and schools,
I know not Fashion’s modish rules.
Unskilled alike at high quadrille,
Or German waltz, or Highland reel,
I own I never learned the art
To act the polished dancer’s part.
But, Gentlemen, do not suppose
That I am one of Scotia’s foes,
Tho’ I should neither dance nor sup,
Nor quaff the red wine from the cup,
Nor join the merry roundelay
With you on old St. Andrew’s day.
No! Caledonia, I do love thee,
And the bleak sky that frowns above thee!
I love my country. Yes, I do;
I love my country’s children too.
O may they never bring dishonour
By vice or knavish arts upon her!
May every Caledonian be
Virtuous and loyal, brave and free;
Of spotless fame, true to his word,
And honourable as a lord!
Where’er he go, where’er he roam,
Far from his loved – his native home,
May Scotia be the Polar Star
Of his attraction from afar!
And when he lands on foreign shore
To pitch his tent nor wander more,
O may he plant her virtues there
And breathe his own in foreign air!
So should we in this Southern clime
Revive the olden golden time!
So should Australia’s cloudless skies
Smile on a Southern Paradise!
(John Dunmore Lang)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Time Poems, Friendship Poems, Home Poems, Art Poems, Education Poems, Books Poems, Courage Poems, Fame Poems, Countries Poems, Harmony PoemsBased on Keywords: caledonian, dancer, modish, unskilled, caledonia, quadrille, scotsmen, collation