Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie,
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
These are the opening words of “to a mouse” by Robert Burns.
I still remember when our secondary 4 literature teacher read us this famous Scottish poem. He was an Englishman, of Scottish descent, so it made quite an impression when he read it in a Scottish accent.
I couldn’t understand a thing.
He later explained to us that Burns wrote it in guilt after he accidentally disturbed a mouse’s nest when ploughing the field.
I was reminded of this poem this afternoon as I was returning to the office from lunch with a colleague. As we were about to cross the treacherous road, I spotted some movement on the ground beside me. It was this little grey rodent (a mouse?) scurrying along. It soon went into a small indentation near the base of the tree, and stopped there. I decided to take a photo.
To my surprise, it didn’t run off.
So I went a little closer and took another photo. Anyone knows if it’s a mouse? It’s about 2-3 inches long.
I think I went too close, as it’s no longer sharp.
But there the wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie stayed.
Most people wouldn’t have read or heard the complete poem, but many would find these 2 lines from the poem familiar:
The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley
After work, around 6 hours later, I walked by the tree again. It was still there.
* * *
Updates:
1. Thanks to lynn and dappledgrass, this mouse I saw is actually a shrew, probably the Asian House Shrew.
2. It was already gone by the next afternoon.
