The Beauties of Burn's Poems/The First Psalm

by Robert Burns (1759-1796)

For other versions of this work, see The First Psalm.

The First Psalm.

The man, in life wherever plac'd,Hath happiness in store,Who walks not in the wicked's way,Nor learns their guilty lore:

Nor from the seat of scornful PrideCasts forth his eyes abroad,But with humility and aweStill walks before his God.

That man shall flourish like the treesWhich by the streamlets grow;The fruitful top is spread on high,And firm the root below.

But he whose blossom buds in Guilt,Shall to the ground be cast:And like the rootless stubble, tostBefore the sweeping blast.

For why? That God the good adore,Hath giv'n them peace and rest,But hath decreed that wicked menShall ne'er be truly blest.

 

Divider from 'The Beauties of Burn's Poems' a chapbook printed in Falkirk in 1819