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