As young people we look forward to the future, to what it might hold for us. The very young don’t look so far ahead but as they begin to grow and become aware of the things in life their attitudes change. What path they choose is determined by their motivation but they may, sometimes, find themselves somewhat side-tracked from their original goal and end up on a different path from what they intended. Occasionally this is for the better but not always. The key to a successful life is flexibility in the approach. In a post a couple of days ago I talked about all roads leading to Rome. there are many ways to reach the goal we have set ourselves and there are often disappointments along the way. As long as we keep focused on our goal, we will get there eventually. As we get older we tend to accept or adjust to situations more readily I feel but we can also find ourselves in a rut if we are not careful. If we stay there we are in danger of not reaching our goal. We eventually reach a point in life whereby we feel we’ve had enough of plans and destinations and we settle down to a familiar routine. We don’t make any more plans regarding where we are headed but we still make other plans. whatever plans we make, they can go wrong, something can get in the way and our lives can be turned upside-down in an instant…..

To A Mouse

by Robert Burns

[On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With The Plough, November, 1785]

Wee, sleekit, cow’rin’, tim’rous beastie,
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi’ bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee,
Wi’ murd’ring pattle!

I’m truly sorry man’s dominion,
Has broken nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion,
Which mak’s thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An’ fellow-mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker in a thrave
‘s a sma’ request:
I’ll get a blessin’ wi’ the lave
And never miss’t!

Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!
It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin’!
An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,
O’ foggage green!
An’ bleak December’s winds ensuin’,
Baith snell and keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,
An’ weary winter comin fast,
An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
‘Till, crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro’ thy cell.

That wee bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble,
Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the winter’s sleety dribble,
An’ cranreuch cauld!

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an ‘men
Gang aft a-gley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief and pain,
For promis’d joy.

Still thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But, och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear.

A well-known poem by Robert Burns. On 25th January each year, there is a celebration of the famous bard. Do you plan to have a wee dram?

Shirley Anne