Let’s briefly visit two more poems. One is the last two verses of To a Louse. In the poem, Burns is sitting in church behind a well-dressed young lady when all of a sudden he sees a single louse clambering up her garment. The poem goes over how strange to see such a repulsive creature in such a fine place, not what you’d expect. Then, the last two verses, while not about hypocrisy directly like the first two poems, touches exactly on the difference between appearance and reality.
O Jeany, dinna toss your head,
An’ set your beauties a’ abread!
Ye little ken what cursed speed
The blastie’s makin:
Thae winks an’ finger-ends, I dread,
Are notice takin.
O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An’ foolish notion:
What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,
An’ ev’n devotion!
Would some power the giftie gie us, indeed. Guarding against hypocrisy shouldn’t have to be done by some clever poet, but should come from within.
And finally, one I sang at last year’s Burns Supper, For A’ That And A’ That.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an’ a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man’s a Man for a’ that:
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their tinsel show, an’ a’ that;
The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
Is king o’ men for a’ that.
Ye see yon birkie, ca’d a lord,
Wha struts, an’ stares, an’ a’ that;
Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
He’s but a coof for a’ that:
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
His ribband, star, an’ a’ that:
The man o’ independent mind
He looks an’ laughs at a’ that.
Again, he had no use for so-called lords, as he put it, acting all high and mighty. Why? Strip away pretense and hypocrisy and people are just people, that’s why. What Burns wanted, what he dreamed of, was a world where people were equal and where there would be no need for false fronts or incongruous words and behavior.
Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a’ that,)
That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an’ a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
It’s coming yet for a’ that,
That Man to Man, the world o’er,
Shall brothers be for a’ that.
