Burns Greeting 2016

La plume est plus forte que l’epee

The Tree o’ Liberty
Had shed its precious fruit
Before November’s callous blast
Silenced Bataclan’s boards
And cast the City of Lights
Into sorrowful shadow

With ‘Je Suis Charlie’
Ready scorched in its bark
A wicked storm
Shook its proud roots
And bent its famous boughs

In this darkest of Gallic winters
Burns would ken that
Indifference is the greatest foe
He’d pick up his pen
And remind honest men
O’ independent mind that
La plume est plus forte que l’epee

Et, pour Ecosse
La plus vieille alliance au monde
Means auld acquaintances
Are not forgotten
Birks and pines and hazels
May stretch up to dreich Scottish skies
But deep roots remain entwined

Springtime in Paris
Will aye bring buds and blossoms
And trees again will soon
‘Wi’ leaves be hinging’

Our Bard kent weel
Shake his Tree o’ Liberty
And seeds will scatter
To sprout in fertile soils and minds
And bring shelter from any storm

He’d use his words
Like seasoned timber
To fire up the furnace
And fuel the gladdening clang
Of hammer on anvil
Turning swords into ploughs
Drowning out the din o’ war