SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE. 35 



A welding heat o' strong young love 



Will last through winters many ; 

 The frosts of years but tend to prove 



The links that bind to Nannie. 

 Though teeth are fled, and locks grown gray, 



She's yet sae kind and cannie 

 Love that outlasts young life's hey-day 



Is the love I bear my Nannie. 



'Mid a' the thoughts that trouble me, 



The saddest thought of ony 

 Is wha may close the other's e'e 



May it be me or Nannie ? 

 The ane that's left may sairly feel, 



Amid a world uncanny ; 

 I'd rather brave auld age myseP 



Than lanely leave my Nannie. 



