Epigraph

Vast imbecile mentality of those
Who cannot tell a thistle from a rose,
This is for others.

—Sacheverell Sitwell.

Dedication

TO F. G. SCOTT.

Can ratt-rime and ragments o’ quenry
And recoll o’ Gillha’ requite
Your faburdoun, figuration, and gemmell,
And prick-sangs’ delight?

Tho’ you’ve cappilowed me in the reapin’
—And yours was a bursten kirn tae!—
Yet you share your advantage wi’ me
In the end o’ the day.

And my flytin’ and sclatrie sall be
Wi’ your fantice and mocage entwined
As the bauch Earth is wi’ the lift
Or fate wi’ mankind!