1793 Poem, Samuel Thomson, ‘Elegy to my Auld Coat’
Author: Samuel Thomson
Date: 1793
Source: Poem: ‘Elegy to my Auld Coat’, from Poems, on Different Subjects, partly in the Scottish Dialect by Samuel Thomson (Belfast: printed for the author, 1793).
Comments: Samuel Thomson (1766–1816) from Lyles Hill near Templepatrick in South Antrim was the editor of the ‘Poets’ Corner’ in the Belfast United Irishman newspaper Northern Star until the paper was closed down in 1797. He exchanged poems with, and visited, Robert Burns, and published three books containing Ulster-Scots poetry — in 1793, 1799 and 1806. An account of his life and poetry can be found in the Introduction to The Country Rhymes of Samuel Thomson, by Philip Robinson and Ernest Scott (Belfast, 1992).
Doc. ref. no.: USLS/TB/Poetry/1700-1799/019
ELEGY.
To my AULD COAT.
Now fare you weel my honest frien’!
This monie a long spun day ye h’ been
To my outside a sonsy screen
Frae weet and cauld;
An’ monie a social hour I h’ seen
Aneath your fauld.
Ye war ance a colour fresh an’ fair,
An shap’d in fashion to a hair;
But now ye’re auld an’ grown thread-bare
Frae sleeve to skirt;
Alack! it wrings my bosom fair,
That we maun part.
Wi’ you exulting monie a time,
High up a stride on thought sublime,
I h’ trac’d the flow’ry fiel’s o’ rhyme,
Aneath Apollo;
An’ made t’ the winds my ditties chyme
O’er height an’ hollow!
Let the ungratefu’ thoughtless loon,
Gae prostitute his coat when done,
To office vile, o’ cleaning shoen,
Or what’s far waur;
Hing’t up some barley rig aboon,
The craws to scaur!
Unlike to him, I’ll lay ye by,
In some lee corner, snug an’ dry,
Whaur ye may rest, while duly I
Shall turn an’ air ye;
For ’till the dreary day I die
I’ll ay revere ye.
