In defense of women. Robert Burns
My mother loved Burns, the national poet of Scotland and frequently quoted him. She would be shocked to read this
message from Scotland . The writer is George Sassoon, whom WAISers will remember because of our debate about the
Scollish clans. It is his contribution to our discussion about the origin of the word "gringo". Did it come from the
American soldiers who in 1846 marched into Mexico singing "Green grow the rushes, oh!"? George brings up Robert
Burns:
"The question in my mind is, if the expression derives from the song "Green grow the rushes-O", is it the childrens'
version which starts "I'll give you one-O", or Robert Burns' version, the chorus of which runs:
Green grow the rashes O, (* small holes)
Burns' erotic poetry is little known, but a good source is the work BARKE James, GOODSIR SMITH Sydney, Robert
Burns: The Merry Muses of Caledonia, Macdonald, Edinburgh, 1982.
Publication of this book was subsidised by the Scottish Arts Council. I sometimes wonder if they knew the nature of the
contents (another example is the poem "Nine inch will please a lady") when they agreed to the subsidy. Alison's father
was expelled from the Exeter Caledonian Society when he reviewed the book on television, remarking that though Burns
did write some good stuff, most of his output was sheer filth."
I was so incredulous that I checked the standard sources. They avoid the issue; they speak of BurnsДbawdy poetry and
say his death in 1796 was brought on by heavy drinking. The truth seems to be that he was a filthy-minded male
chauvinist. One more illusion shattered.
Ronald Hilton - 5/2/01
Men are a nasty, stupidly aggressive crowd. Yesterday, May Day, when children should be dancing around the May Pole,
men were out rioting for the sake of rioting. The worst riots were in Berlin, between Commies and Nazis. Men have
brutalized women because they are weaker. Cowards! That is why I revere the Virgin Mary, even though her story is
mostly fiction. She is the symbol of the divine joy of womanhood and motherhood. Not the Virgin of Guadalupe, a
symbol of nationalism--like Christ, the Virgin Mary is a universal figure-- not that of Stanford's Spanish Department,
who is as nasty as men. I revere the memory of my mother, who was a saintly person, because of whom I was in church
five times a week: three times on Sunday, choir practice on Tuesdays and Fridays. The church later closed down,
probably because of my singing.
Green grow the rashes O,
The lasses they hae wimble bores,*
The widows they hae gashes-O.
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