to miss ferrier
    enclosing the elegy on sir j. h. blair.
    nae heathen name shall i prefix,
    frae pindus or parnassus;
    auld reekie dings them a' to sticks,
    for rhyme-inspiring lasses.
    jove's tunefu' dochters three times three
    made homer deep their debtor;
    but, gien the body half an e'e,
    nine ferriers wad done better!
    last day my mind was in a bog,
    down george's street i stoited;
    a creeping cauld prosaic fog
    my very sense doited.
    do what i dought to set her free,
    my saul lay in the mire;
    ye turned a neuk—i saw your e'e—
    she took the wing like fire!
    the mournfu' sang i here enclose,
    in gratitude i send you,
    and pray, in rhyme as weel as prose,
    a' gude things may attend you!