1753 Poem, Anon. (William Starrat), ‘Sysiphus, or Human Vanity’

Sysiphus, or Human Vanity

SYSIPHUS: Or human Vanity.

I Pity the aspiring cheel,

Wha wad to wealth, and grandeur speel;

Wha uses a’ his art, and skill

To row his meentith up the hill:

For when he gains the highest ground,

Nae resting-place will there be found;

He will (as ithers oft hae priev’d)

Of a’ his rowth be quickly reev’d:

For death, or fate, it maksna whither,

Ne’er lets them bide o’erlang the gither;

But as the righteous Judge thinks fit,

Takes it frae him, or him frae it.

And when enjoyment’s past and gane,

Remembrance gi’s him unco pain.

The mair he priz’d his former state,

The mair he grieves when driv’n frae’t.

What dolours fill the weary wight,

When tumbled frae his artfu’ hight?

Nor yet will his example fear

Anither, or his moilings mar:

He scrambles up the self same track,

Sae wins the top, sae tumbles back.

Thus Sysiphus wi’ mony a grane,

Up the steep bevil heeves his stane:

The summit gain’d, ’twill no stand still,

But headlang trumbles down the hill:

Again he upwards warks the stane,

And it comes trumpling down again.

Did some of the celestial pow’rs

Luick down on this doyl’d wark o’ ours

They’d form their judgments o’ us thus:

That a’ mankind’s ae Sysiphus.    W.