be blest, but tam was glorious,
o'er a' the ills o' life victorious!
but pleasures are like poppies spread,
you seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed;
or like the snow falls in the river,
a moment white—thes for ever;
or like the borealis race,
that flit ere you point their pce;
or like the rainbow's lovely form
evanishing amid the storm.—
nae man tether time nor tide,
the hour approaches tam maun ride;
that hour, o' night's bck arch the key-stane,
that dreary hour he mounts his beast in;
and siight he taks the road in,
Tam O Shanter(5/16)