2006 Greeting

Paisley Burns Club Greeting 2006

As guid friends gaither the world o’er

Tae celebrate oor Burns’ lore

Whiles contemplatin’ whit’s in store

I look the ither way

Sic a year I’ve never ken’t afore

Whit would Rabbie dae?

Mother Nature’s powrs divine

Saw deadly wave an’ quake combine

An’ dragged puir souls intae the brine

Like tea leaves doon a sink

Twa hunner thousan’ people dyin’

Whit would Rabbie think?

Wi aw the might that she could muster

She sent Katrina to blaw and bluster

An’ the Mardi Gras lost its lustre

An’ left anarchy to ding

She rent the home of jazz asunder

Whit song would Rabbie sing?

While in Iraq, peace stays a slave

Black Watch sodjers still staunin’ brave

Twa thoosand yankees in their grave

It isnae clear tae me.

Is it freedom or oil we want tae save?

Whit would Rabbie see?

In London town the windaes clattered

Trams an’ lives left lyin’ shattered

A nation’s pride bruised an’ battered

What fuels this fight?

Tae them only ‘Jihad’ mattered.

Whit would Rabbie write?

Then Perthshire’s scenic Highland gate

Thrown open tae worldly good an’ great

Wi the wealth to fill a’bodys’ plate

An’ end aw poverty

But millions starve as the G8 ate

Whit would Rabbie say?

Ma Scottish psyche is guy weary

But ma gless is fu’ – it’s no hauf empty

An’ worldly blessings have I plenty

Let’s aw look furret the way

Powrs greater than us shape destiny

That’s whit Rabbie wid say

So as we gaither from aw the airts

An’ come thegither from mony pairts

For those o’ us wi’ heavy hairts

Fill up yer gless today

An’ embrace life wi’ aw its warts
That’s whit Rabbie wid dae.

Bob Carruth Jan 25th 2006