Written on a Bank Note

[The bank-note on which these characteristic lines were endorsed, came
into the hands of the late James Gracie, banker in Dumfries: he knew
the handwriting of Burns, and kept it as a curiosity. The concluding
lines point to the year 1786, as the date of the composition.]

      Wae worth thy power, thou cursed leaf,
      Fell source o' a' my woe an' grief;
      For lack o' thee I've lost my lass,
      For lack o' thee I scrimp my glass.
      I see the children of affliction
      Unaided, through thy cursed restriction
      I've seen the oppressor's cruel smile
      Amid his hapless victim's spoil:
      And for thy potence vainly wished,
      To crush the villain in the dust.
    For lack o' thee, I leave this much-lov'd shore,
    Never, perhaps, to greet old Scotland more.
R. B.