Address to a Haggis

Declaimed at every Burns' Supper celebrated around the poet's birthday on 25 January, the closing stanza is said to have been composed by Burns "off the cuff" during a dinner. The poem was published soon after Burns arrived in Edinburgh. The earliest known recipe for this traditional Scottish dish using oatmeal, herbs and offal, was published in the same year.

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin' race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang's my arm.
The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm - reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit' hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect sconner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit:
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade.
He'll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow`rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, If ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!

Meaning of unusual words:
sonsie=cheerful
Aboon=Above
Painch=paunch
thairm=guts
wordy=worthy
hurdies=buttocks
pin=skewer
dight=wipe
slight=skill
Trenching=Digging
reekin=steaming
weel-swall'd kytes=well-swollen bellies
belyve=soon
Guidman=Head of the household
rive=burst
staw=sicken
sconner=disgust
feckless=weak
rash=rush
nieve a nit=fist a nut
sned=trim
taps o thrissle= tops of thistle
skinking=watery
jaups=splashes
luggies=wooden bowl with projecting handles