I Murder Hate. A Poem by Robert Burns
Home ] Up ] Photo Galleries ] Town Guides ] Notables ] Community ] News ] Places ] History ] Search ] Contact Us ]


I murder hate
 
I murder hate by flood or field,
Tho' glory's name may screen us;
In wars at home I'll spend my blood -
Life-giving wars of Venus.
The deities that I adore
Are social Peace and Plenty;
I'm better pleased to make one more,
Than be the death of twenty.
 
I would not die like Socrates,
For all the fuss of Plato;
Nor would i with Leonidas,
Nor yet would i with Cato:
The zealots of the church and state
Shall ne'er my mortal foe be;
But let me have bold Zimri's fate,
Within the arms of Cozbi!

A great poem, which shows that Burns was an educated man. Socrates commited suicide, because the govn of his day was against his ideas & Plato praised him for his action. Leonidas, King of Sparta, died in the same battle, which helped Cato, the elder, [Roman] to achieve fame, since he & his soldiers flattened Sparta. When he talks about the zealots of the church and state, he was thinking about the French revolution, where a lot of people got killed just so that others could take over leadership. Zimri and Cozbi were biblical characters. He was a jew & opposed Moses [who forbid his people to marry into other races] by marrying Cosbi. They were both killed in each others arms.

Transcription of poem and comments contribtued by Siegrun Macgilchrist