Thine be the volumes, Jessy fair,And with them take the Poet’s prayer,That Fate may, in her fairest page,With ev’ry kindliest, best presageOf future bliss, enroll thy name:With native worth and spotless fame,And wakeful caution, still awareOf ill—but chief, Man’s felon snare;
All blameless joys on earth we find,And all the treasures of the mind—These be thy guardian and reward;So prays thy faithful friend, the Bard.
Dumfries, June 26, 1769.