---
title: "Address to the Shade of Thomson"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1791"
location: "Ellisland"
source: "Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns"
source_url: "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt"
canonical_url: "https://robert-burns.com/poems/address-to-the-shade-of-thomson/"
---

# Address to the Shade of Thomson

## Preface
On Crowning His Bust at Ednam, Roxburghshire, with a Wreath of Bays.

## Poem
While virgin Spring by Eden’s flood,  
Unfolds her tender mantle green,  
Or pranks the sod in frolic mood,  
Or tunes Eolian strains between.

While Summer, with a matron grace,  
Retreats to Dryburgh’s cooling shade,  
Yet oft, delighted, stops to trace  
The progress of the spiky blade.

While Autumn, benefactor kind,  
By Tweed erects his aged head,  
And sees, with self-approving mind,  
Each creature on his bounty fed.

While maniac Winter rages o’er  
The hills whence classic Yarrow flows,  
Rousing the turbid torrent’s roar,  
Or sweeping, wild, a waste of snows.

So long, sweet Poet of the year!  
Shall bloom that wreath thou well hast won;  
While Scotia, with exulting tear,  
Proclaims that Thomson was her son.

---

Source: [Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt)  
Canonical HTML: https://robert-burns.com/poems/address-to-the-shade-of-thomson/