S.E.  Kiser.

A MAN’S A MAN FOR A’ THAT

It is said that once at a laird’s house Burns was placed at a second table, and that this rankled in his breast and caused him to write his poem on equality.  He insists that rank, wealth, and external distinctions are merely the stamp on the guinea; the man is the gold itself.  Snobbishness he abhors; poverty he confesses to without hanging his head in the least; the pith of sense and the pride of worth he declares superior to any dignity thrust upon a person from the outside.  In a final, prophetic mood he looks forward to the time when a democracy of square dealing shall prevail, praise shall be reserved for merit, and men the world over shall be to each other as brothers.  In line 8 gowd=gold; 9, hamely=homely, commonplace; 11, gie=give; 15, sae=so; 17, birkie=fellow; 20, cuif=simpleton; 25, mak=make; 27, aboon=above; 28, mauna=must not; fa’=acclaim; 36, gree=prize.

  Is there, for honest poverty,
    That hangs his head, and a’ that? 
  The coward-slave, we pass him by,
    We dare be poor for a’ that! 
      For a’ that, and a’ that,
        Our toils obscure, and a’ that;
      The rank is but the guinea stamp;
        The man’s the gowd for a’ that.

  What tho’ on hamely fare we dine,
    Wear hodden-gray, and a’ that;
  Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine,
    A man’s a man for a’ that. 
      For a’ that, and a’ that,
        Their tinsel show, and a’ that;
      The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
        Is King o’ men for a’ that.

  Ye see yon birkie, ca’d a lord,
    Wha struts, and stares, and a’ that;
  Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
    He’s but a cuif for a’ that: 
      For a’ that, and a’ that. 
        His riband, star, and a’ that,
      The man of independent mind,
        He looks and laughs at a’ that.

  A prince can mak a belted knight,
    A marquis, duke, and a’ that;
  But an honest man’s aboon his might,
    Guid faith he mauna fa’ that! 
      For a’ that, and a’ that,
        Their dignities, and a’ that,
      The pith o’ sense, and pride o’ worth,
        Are higher rank than a’ that.

  Then let us pray that come it may,
    As come it will for a’ that;
  That sense and worth, o’er a’ the earth,
    May bear the gree, and a’ that. 
      For a’ that and a’ that,
        It’s coming yet, for a’ that,
      That man to man the warld o’er
  Shall brothers be for a’ that.

Robert Burns.

LIFE AND DEATH

  Life!  I know not what thou art,
  But know that thou and I must part;
  And when, or how, or where we met
  I own to me a secret yet.