Happy Birthday, Bobbie Burns!

Bring on the haggis, yesterday was Burns Day! Now celebrated throughout the world with "Burns Suppers," speeches, poem recitations and of course, haggis, the Scottish Bard's birthday was January 25, 1759. Most people have bits and pieces of Burns' poems floating around in their heads, whether they know it or not. How about these familiar lines, do they ring a bell?

• "O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!" from "To A Louse, On Seeing One On A Lady's Bonnet, At Church"
• "For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne, We'll tak a cup of kindness yet, For auld lang syne!
  Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne?" from the poem For Auld Lang Syne
• "O, my luve is like a red, red rose,That's newly sprung in June.O, my luve is like a melodie,That's sweetly play'd in tune" from the poem of the same name.

and many more familiar lines and quotes including the one about "the best laid plans of mice and men."

For the complete works of Robert Burns, go to the Gutenburg Project Burns' Complete Works.

To send a Robert Burns email card with a picture of haggis or some other Scottish icon, go to this site.

ElectricScotland.com has some great links (hyperlinks, not golf links, another Scottish activity for another day) to a glossary of Scots words in audio format and to the Robert Burns National Historic Park featuring crossword puzzles, school assignment help, trivia, pictures etc etc. If you become a convert, go to the annual festival, "Burns an' a' That."

But above all, be sure to read his beautiful poems like: "To a Mouse."